• Ghana will seek private partners to handle electricity billing in a move to recover payments and reduce losses.
• The state power distributor ECG currently recovers only 62% of what it buys from producers.
• The government is trying to restructure $2.5 billion in energy debt, with $1.6 billion already under discussion.

Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama announced yesterday a government plan to involve private companies in the country’s electricity billing system. He said the goal is to improve revenue collection and reduce persistent losses of the state-owned power distributor, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), which recovers only 62% of the electricity it purchases from independent producers.

According to the leader, the plan will put an end to a situation that only widens financial gaps across the sector. “By the end of the year, early next year, we should be able to make everybody happy in terms of dealing with that debt,” he said, addressing participants at the Africa CEO Summit in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

This plan is part of a broader push to resolve Ghana’s $2.5 billion energy debt owed to independent power producers (IPPs) and gas suppliers. Of that amount, $1.6 billion has already entered a restructuring process since 2024. The government said it will soon launch a call for expressions of interest to select one or more private partners to manage collections. It also stressed that local participation will be required in any selected consortium.

Officials say this step is necessary due to ECG’s chronic inefficiency. The company loses around 40% of its power, mainly because of non-payments and commercial losses.

The initiative comes amid ongoing tensions with IPPs, who currently supply 60% of Ghana’s peak electricity demand. Last year, several producers threatened to withdraw from debt talks, accusing the government of failing to honor its commitments, even after accepting concessions such as tariff cuts or discounted repayments.

Among them, Turkish company Karpowership, which provides 450 MW to Ghana’s grid, warned of a possible shutdown if ECG failed to settle more than $370 million owed. During a meeting with the Minister of Energy in February, the company said it could not continue operations without urgent payments. A partial payment was made at the end of 2024, but Karpowership still faces serious financial risk.

By turning to the private sector for collections, the government is pursuing a practical solution to secure cash flow and revive the payment chain. However, it remains uncertain whether this measure alone will be enough to restore producer confidence and stabilize the sector’s finances.

The success of the initiative will depend on effective execution, political will to curb fraud, and cooperation between public and private actors under transparent conditions.