Ghana’s power transmission company, Ghana
Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), has disconnected
power supply to the Volta Aluminum Company Limited (VALCO), following failure
of the company to settle over US$30million outstanding debt to the power
transmitter
GRIDco in a statement said: “The decision was made by the Management of GRIDCo after several attempts to get VALCO to honour its payment obligations failed. The decision to disconnect VALCO is part of ongoing debt collection measures to mobilize the needed funds to support its operations.”
Below is the statement from GRIDco:
GRIDCo
Disconnects Power Supply to VALCO
Tema, 11:11GMT, 30 December, 2019 – The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo)
has today disconnected power supply to the Volta Aluminum Company Limited
(VALCO), following failure of the company to settle over US$30million
outstanding debt to the power transmitter.
The
decision was made by the Management of GRIDCo after several attempts to get
VALCO to honour its payment obligations failed. The decision to disconnect
VALCO is part of ongoing debt collection measures to mobilize the needed funds
to support its operations.
GRIDCo’s
operations have been significantly impaired due to huge unpaid debts owed by
its bulk customers, currently amounting to over GH¢1.2billion. At its recent
Annual General Meeting (AGM) in November 2019, the company announced that its
network expansion efforts have been hampered due to the current financial
situation.
Jonathan Amoako-Baah, Chief Executive of GRIDCo said:
“We play a critical role in Ghana’s
power sector and we need every resource available to us to continue delivering
on our mandate to our key stakeholders and clients. VALCO’s debts continue to
mount and will create major problems for our operations if nothing is done
about it. We have been engaging the management of VALCO since the first half of
this year to agree on a payment plan but nothing has come out of it. We have
been left with no option as our continued state of affairs is unsustainable. We
take the opportunity to entreat other customers indebted to GRIDCo to take
steps to settle their debts.”
