The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has appealed to the government to intervene and settle an outstanding electricity debt of GH¢13.6 million, which it describes as a legacy liability arising from shared state infrastructure.

The appeal was made during President John Dramani Mahama’s visit to the state broadcaster, where the Director-General of GBC, Prof. Amin Alhassan, outlined the circumstances that led to the accumulation of the debt.

He explained that the arrears date back several years to a period when multiple state institutions shared a common power supply at GBC premises.

According to Prof. Alhassan, government agencies including the military, police and national security services previously drew electricity from the same source as GBC, at a time when individual metering was not in place. When the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) later installed meters in GBC’s name, the accumulated consumption was recorded solely under the public broadcaster.

He noted that after the issue was raised, the other agencies disconnected from the shared system and secured alternative power sources, leaving GBC responsible for the unpaid arrears.

As a result, the entire legacy debt was transferred to the Corporation, despite it not being the sole beneficiary of the electricity consumed.

Prof. Alhassan disclosed that GBC has already paid about GH¢5 million this year but still faces a substantial outstanding balance.

He appealed to the government to absorb the remaining GH¢13.6 million to ease the financial burden on the public broadcaster and enable it to continue providing reliable public service broadcasting to Ghanaians.