The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, has said that the government is in talks to renegotiate terms with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in a bid to strike a balanced outcome that serves both the state and the private sector.
This is being spearheaded by the Executive Director at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy Benjamin Boakye.
Speaking at a high-level forum on Ghana’s energy sector organised by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy and the Open Society Foundations on Friday, July 18, 2025, John Jinapor acknowledged that the initial phase of his tenure was marked by operational threats from IPPs, including potential shutdowns over unpaid arrears and other sector challenges.
“When I look at the bill, I say, ‘How much do we owe the IPPs? ‘ They said $1.7 billion. But how much do we owe the whole sector in terms of power generation? ‘They said $3 billion.’ I said the energy sector how much we need to clear the pipeline, and they told me GHȼ81 million. If you look at the amount that we spend on the energy sector through the budget, you put the key ministries together…it far surpasses them.
I got a bit demoralised initially, and I was thinking, how can we solve this problem, and looking at the currency, even if we were to increase the tariff by doubling it, you still would have those challenges, and so the beginning was very tough,” he said.
John Jinapor expressed optimism about a turnaround in the energy sector, citing ongoing reforms and negotiations that he believes will stabilise the industry if sustained.
“We started working, and I can say, looking at where we were and where we are today, we have made significant progress. If we can keep on that trajectory, I am very sure we can turn around the corner, and you couldn’t have got a better topic…addressing Ghana’s energy sector challenges for economic transformation.
My understanding of economic transformation is that we want to anchor the economy. We want to set it on a sound footing so that there is long-term sustainability in terms of the gains that we make,” the minister remarked.
“We are renegotiating with some of the IPPs, and we believe that under the leadership of Ben and co, who are spearheading that agenda for us, we will be able to come to some very favourable terms with the IPPs so that we can have a win-win situation,” John Jinapor added.
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