US Embassy in Ghana 'begging' to pay power bills of 2 years

The United States Embassy in Accra is literally begging the national power supply company to sit with them so that they will settle unpaid bills of 2 years.

The Embassy took to their twitter handle to explain circumstances surrounding its alleged indebtedness to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Ghana’s sector minister had made comments to the effect that the Embassy owed the ECG, ‘‘The U.S. Embassy in Ghana has not refused to pay any electricity bills. We have been asking for official bills,’‘ one of the tweets read.

…for embassy-managed facilities for more than 2 years so we can issue correct payments. [2/3]

— US Embassy Ghana (@USEmbassyGhana) May 17, 2017

The embassy has set aside funds for electricity, and we will continue to work with the ECG to get correct bills so we can pay. [3/3]

— US Embassy Ghana (@USEmbassyGhana) May 17, 2017

Ghana’s energy minister, Boakye Agyarko, had at a recent forum said the indebtedness of the ECG was because of debts owed it by major institutions like the US Embassy and multinational telecom giants, MTN.

“I had a discussion with the managing director. American Embassy has 160 facilities in Ghana. They have not been billed for two years. So they went to ECG and said ‘look, we owe you money. Bring us a bill. Bring us pre-paid meters.

“We will use it for one year, and whenever we use, we will multiply it by 3 and give it to you.’ Up to now, the ECG hasn’t been able to do that,” he said.

The country’s utility regulator, the Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU) however described the minister’s assertion as strange saying that the Embassy did not owe the ECG.

“US Embassy does not owe ECG in terms of bills [so] if they were not getting bills, would they have paid all their indebtedness till date?”

Ghana’s power debt issue is well documented in an investigative piece by the country’s award-winning investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, whose work titled ‘President’s Assignment – Stealing the People’s Power,’ did a thorough probe into the ailing power sector.

At the time of the release of the three-part documentary, Anas and his Tiger Eye team exposed multinationals and individuals who had piled up debts with the ECG. Among others, the presidency and most government institutions were all owing the ECG.