The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is considering selling its debt to private institutions after an ongoing exercise to retrieve funds from defaulting customers ends on Friday. ECG has been disconnecting power to customers who have not paid their debts or agreed to a payment plan in an attempt to recover a total of ₵5.7 billion in arrears.
Samuel Dubik Mahama, the managing director of ECG, has stated that the company cannot retrieve all the money owed to it within the stipulated time, which is why it is considering other options. The possibility of selling the debt to private institutions to collect the money is on the table.
According to Mr. Mahama, the option will be presented to the company’s board of directors, and when approved, private investors can bid for the debts. He emphasized that only those interested in buying debts in the hundreds of millions of cedis would be considered.
“If you’re coming to buy about GH₵200 million, GH₵400 million, then you’re talking. So, it is something I’ll present to the board at the right time, and we’ll go through it and we can give percentages to them,” he explained.
The decision to sell debts to private companies will be an important step towards debt recovery, as ECG has been struggling with debt collection for years. It is hoped that this move will help the company recover a significant amount of the money owed to it.