The Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers (CIPDiB) is demanding the payment of 30 percent of outstanding arrears owed its members by government.
This call was agreed upon at an emergency meeting of IPPs on Tuesday 23rd May 2023.
A statement issued by the Chamber and signed by its Chairman, Togbe Afede XIV noted that, “it was resolved that in order to ease the pressure on members of the Chamber and enable them to continue operations while negotiations continue between IPPS, ECG and government towards finding a long term solution to the payment crisis, Government must pay a minimum of thirty percent (30%) of the outstanding arrears to the IPPS by no later than 30th June 2023.”
The IPPs indicated that they had earlier written to government to receive payment of a significant portion of the outstanding arrears by 28th March 2023. Even though no significant payments were made by the requested date, members of the Chamber who were already operating under very severe financial constraints, continued operating to allow the government to conclude its negotiations with the IMF.
Currently, arrears owed IPPs have now increased to US$1.6Billion.
They however noted that, “regrettably, we must stress that unless we receive the payment requested by the said date, members of the chamber will not be in a position to guarantee the continued generation of electricity.”
