The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has paid $8 million to the West African Gas Pipeline Company, (WAPCo) to avoid a potential power outage.

Government still has up to the end of the week to pay an additional $12 million or WAPCo may be forced again to switch off gas supply.

The country lost over 500 megawatts of power resulting in outages due to limited gas supply by WAPCo on Thursday, October 26.

In an interview on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday, October 30, the Managing Director of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama said government is determined to clear the debt by the end of the week.

He responded to fears that the country will be plunged into “dumsor”, promising that the sudden disruption of power will “not happen again because we have put in the right mechanisms.”

“Very soon, with the arrangement we have, we are going to pay off our exposure to WAPCo. I am hoping that by the end of this week, it will be zero. As we speak I think they have received more than 8 million dollars so hopefully by the end of the week, it will be zero,” he said.

He noted that once they clear the debt, ECG will develop a sustainable plan on how it would pay WAPCo on a regular basis.

On Thursday, October 26, some parts of the country experienced power outages.

Also read: https://www.myjoyonline.com/gridco-announces-power-outage-due-to-limited-gas-supply/

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) in a statement explained that the cause of the power cuts was due to limited gas supply to Tema leading to a shortage of 550MW at peak time.

The shortage led to the power outage on that Thursday night. GRIDCo subsequently apologized for the inconvenience caused.

Also read:https://www.myjoyonline.com/we-cant-be-blamed-for-last-thursdays-power-outages-gnpc/

Later on Saturday, October 28, the ECG and GRIDCo in a joint statement, announced the successful restoration of power as a result of the resumption of gas supply to the generating plants in Tema from Takoradi.