John Jinapor is the Minister of Energy and Green Transition
The Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, has explained that the newly introduced Energy Sector Levy is not to pay the sector’s debts but instead to cater for liquid fuel.
According to him, the cost of the liquid fuel is not included in the electricity tariff structure, posing financing challenges to the government.
He also added that if the government decided to add this cost to electricity tariffs, the ordinary Ghanaian would be burdened.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM, he said, “Governance is about making decisions. It’s about optimising the situation and doing what we believe is the best decision. Nobody enjoys imposing taxes or levies on the people of Ghana.
“We’ve been working very hard since our time in office, but quickly, this is not actually to pay for legacy debt. What we are doing is that we’ve studied the system, we’ve done the analysis in the energy sector, and the basic truth and fact is that the liquid fuels that we buy currently are not part of the tariff structure. So, when you and I pay for electricity, even if ECG were to collect the money 100% today, none of that money would go into the procurement of liquid fuels.”
He noted that the government needs over $1 billion in 2025 alone to procure liquid fuels.
The minister added that this would have been averted if the government had increased gas consumption or production years ago.
“It takes, on average, about 18 months to 2 years to put a gas infrastructure in place. That is, even if you start today. And so this should have happened like yesterday. The finance minister has been helping a bit, though with much more difficulty in helping us to procure liquid fuels. So, what are the options available? Increase electricity tariffs, fall on the finance minister for non-existent money, or share the gains in the reduction of fuel prices,” he noted.
SSD/AE