Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, has revealed that Independent Power Producer Karpowership has withdrawn its letter announcing a planned shutdown on May 18, 2025.
During a meeting with energy sector stakeholders on Thursday, May 14, the Minister disclosed that Karpowership—one of the major power producers supplying 450MW to the national grid—had initially informed the Ministry of its intention to cease operations on May 18 due to a debt of over $400 million.
However, in an interview on News360 on TV3 the same day, John Jinapor reassured the public that a mutually agreed roadmap has been established with Karpowership, and the company will continue supplying power beyond the previously stated shutdown date.
“If you take Karpower for instance, we have very good meetings with them and I can tell you the good news is that they have withdrawn the May 18, deadline and that’s very positive news and that’s what we do here, we find solutions.
“We have agreed on a roadmap with Karpower and so that letter has been withdrawn. We inherited that problem, a legacy debt of $400 million,” he noted.
The energy sector is currently facing a severe crisis, burdened with an overall debt of $3.1 billion, including $1.7 billion owed to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and monthly under-recoveries of GH₵2 billion by the Electricity Company of Ghana.
Adding to the urgency is the critical need for GH₵1.1 billion to procure liquid fuel for power generation, with existing fuel reserves expected to last only 2.6 days.
Addressing the Parliamentary Energy Committee on Thursday, May 15, Mr. Jinapor highlighted the precarious state of the nation’s fuel supply for power plants, sounding a cautionary note about potential disruptions.
However, Richmond Rockson, Spokesperson and Head of Communications at the Energy Ministry, sought to ease concerns about possible power outages caused by fuel shortages.
In an interview on TV3 New Day’s Big Issue program on Friday, May 16, 2025, he revealed that 450,000 barrels of light crude oil have been procured to help alleviate the fuel shortfall.
“As at the time the Minister was speaking, we only had less than 3 days cover for light crude oil. The update now is that we have made provision for import and we will be expecting 450,000 barrels of light crude oil between today (Friday, May 16) and tomorrow (Saturday, May 17). And with that people’s fear that they were going to sleep in darkness will be averted,” he stated.
