By Kizito CUDJOE
As part of expected reforms to improve the energy sector, President John Mahama has announced efforts to introduce private sector participation in the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) metering and billing operations.
The decision aims to boost revenue collection and curb commercial and technical losses threatening ECG’s viability.
The announcement comes amid recent public debate over ECG’s proposed privatisation.
Currently, the power sector is saddled with numerous challenges including collection and system losses, non-compliance with the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM) and legacy debts.
President Mahama, speaking in parliament during his first State of the Nation Address (SoNA 2025) said: “The financing shortfall has risen considerably, to approximately US$2.2billion or GH₵34billion for 2025”.
Given this, he said: “Urgent measures will be needed to reduce it to sustainable levels and ultimately eliminate it”.
He stated that his administration inherited an energy sector on the brink of collapse, which was weighed down by unsustainable debts. This, he observed, has led to many Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and fuel suppliers threatening to cease their operations.
President Mahama observed that despite GH₵45billion in Energy Sector Levies (ESLA) collections over eight years, the energy sector remains saddled with a GH₵70billion debt as of December 2024.
“It is of deep concern that several state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the energy sector are struggling to stay afloat. Unless urgent interventions are made, many of them will go under. Financial distress in the energy sector remains a significant obstacle to delivering consistent and affordable electricity to Ghanaians and poses an existential threat to the economy in general,” he stated.
To address this crisis, the president said he has directed the Energy Minister to enforce a single revenue collection account, adhere to the CWM and cut wasteful expenditure.
Aligned with this directive, he said, the ministry has set up an advisory committee to guide private sector participation in metering and billing to improve efficiency in revenue collection and reduce the high commercial and technical losses that are threatening to drown the state-owned utility company.
“A pilot partnership between ECG and Enclave Power has proved highly successful and provides us with a workable framework. ECG provides a bulk supply of power to Enclave Power Limited while Enclave Power provides meters and bills for all companies operating in the Free Zones Enclave – with 99 percent revenue collection and nearly 100 percent uptime in power supply.”
He observed that a reduction in commercial and technical losses would lead to affordable tariffs for everyone and bring relief to all consumers of electric power.
“We also aim in the medium-term to achieve 100 percent gas utilisation for power production and eliminate the use of crude oil,” Mr. Mahama added.
This, he anticipated, will save Ghana hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the importation of liquid fuels for power production.
President Mahama also announced to parliament that the West African Gas Pipeline’s (WAPCO) scheduled pigging will be completed in the first weeks of March.
“Once additional gas flows from Nigeria, we anticipate a marked improvement in the power situation,” he added.
Furthermore, he outlined that a ‘Renewable Energy and Green Transition Fund’ will soon be operationalised to enhance efficiency and accelerate the country’s transition to clean energy.
“This initiative will drive investment in sustainable energy solutions, including solar street lighting, rooftop solar installations, off-grid solar systems, electric vehicle charging stations and chargeable outboard motors. These measures will reduce dependence on the national grid and position Ghana as a leader in Africa’s green energy transition,” he stated.
To address the country’s declining oil production and other challenges facing the upstream oil and gas sector, the president announced that government has initiated revitalisation efforts. This initiative aims to create a business-friendly and supportive environment for partners and prospective investors.
Explaining further, he said: “My meetings with players in the upstream sector have been extremely positive and we have been assured of substantial investments running into billions of dollars”.
