The World Bank has approved a US$60-million credit facility for the Electricity Company of Ghana.
The credit facility from the International Development Association (IDA) is primarily to improve ECG’s financial performance, minimise its commercial losses, and ultimately contribute to increased revenue and cash flow.
According to a report by the Daily Graphic, the credit provides additional financing to the Ghana Energy Development and Access Project (GEDAP) originally approved by the Bank Group’s Board on July 26, 2007, including US$90 million and an additional US$70 million approved on June 3, 2010.
The GEDAP funds have broadly supported (i) Sector and Institutional Development; (ii) Electricity Distribution Improvement; (iii) Electricity Access and Renewable Energy; (iv) Expanded Capacity for Electricity Distribution Improvement; (v) Revenue Collection Improvement; and (vi) Management and Planning Enhancement.
Most of this new financing will be used to increase the scope and impact of ongoing activities to strengthen ECG’s billing and metering systems to improve its operational efficiency.
As the agency responsible for managing the energy consumer accounts, ECG’s performance has a major impact on the entire energy value chain.
Ghana is currently experiencing a significant shortage of electricity shedding between 450 and 650 megawatts of power during peak and off peak periods.
