The Finance Minister in his supplementary budget submission to parliament made the claim that the government is going to renegotiate all take-or-pay power agreements to take-and-pay will scare away prospective investors not only in the power sector but even more in the development of any future gas Exploration and Production (E&P) field.
This claim, if true, is not only ill-advised but also dangerous and a hinderance to potential investors in the energy sector of our economy.
First, if investors agree to take-and-pay agreements, government will have to provide even greater security support packages to make the financing of the development of these gas fields intended for Gas2Power possible.
Clearly, the approached being proposed by the Minister shows his team’s lack of experience in financing infrastructure projects.
An analogy is where a caterer agrees with a company to provide meals for 200 staff based on the demand forecast at the time.
She then gears up, enters into debt to buys equipment to provide 200 meals a day ; only to find out later that the company decides unilaterally, or for some other reason, to reduce the meals to 150 people.
There will be consequences for everyone involved - the off taker, the supplier, the supplier’s banks etc. How does the caterer pay for the debt with reduced revenue and reduced margins?
The view that the government can unilaterally renegotiate existing IPP agreements from one form to another is not only a joke; but it also shows the basic lack of understanding in how investors in the energy sector make Financial Investment Decisions (FIDs) in a country where the government is reluctant to guarantee investments in the sector. Certainly if the government is now willing to provide sovereign guarantee to investors investing in the sector, it can cajole the investors into take and pay agreements. But knowing the credit worthiness of this government, no sane investor will even take the bait of a sovereign guarantee from Ghana.
The World Bank provided up to $700m in Guarantees - it’s largest ever financial guarantee to a project - to back a take-or-pay E&P Gas field development and also the financing of 4 take-or-pay power plants in Ghana; let’s see if the government can go renegotiate with the World Bank - that’s where the government needs to start so we see how serious the government is.
The financial institutions that financed these plants will not agree to a renegotiation unless government provides more support or guarantees in the form, possibly, of Standby Letters of Credit to provide comfort of default from the already bankrupt power sector.
Even on the taxation side, a take-or-Pay contract will have lower tariffs than a take-and-pay contract!
The issue I am raising here is with the Minister’s statement that has to do with him saying that he will renegotiate “ALL” IPP Power Purchase Agreements to make them take-and-pay from take-or-pay.
It is possible to renegotiate those old IPPs that have most likely paid down all their initial capex but quite impossible to do that for relatively new IPPs, and impossible to do that for new IPPs.
We should also not confuse the Put-Call Option Agreements (PCOA), with take-or-pay Agreements;
PCOA replaces the Government Support and Consent Agreements that basically mitigates the political and country risk when a default occurs due to government interference i.e. country specific - since government controls PURC, and the whole power value chain, government interference is a huge risk for the investors and their financial institutions;
The take-or-pay on the other hand is more related to off takers payments for power received - ensuring debt service payment of the capital expenditure financed by the investor’s financial institution. It is a project financing requirement in the power sector (and in most infrastructure project).
Please note that both Bui and Sunon Asogli which were signed by the NPP government were take-or-pay Agreements.
If the IPP has paid off its initial capex then there is the need to renegotiate. The IPP needed a take-or-pay Agreement in order to secure the original capex financing.
If we send a message out to the power sector investor community that we would no longer be entering into take or pay agreements, as explicitly stated by the Finance Minister, it would be impossible for them to reach Financial Investment decision, nor raise the funding from the project finance banks.
Lastly, it was disingenuous of the finance minister to deceive the public with the amount of dependable (24/7) sustainable power generation capacity which is more in the neighbourhood of 3,500mW rather than the 4,593mW. But that is a topic for another day!
Source: Alex Mould/ Former GNPC Boss
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Akronfuo. Nyame be tua mo nyina ka baako baako for greedily sinking this dear Nation by hanging this financial debacle on on necks with these kalabule contracts. And it will stretch to your generations unborn.
Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has claimed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration started the renegotiation of the take-or-pay agreements that are crippling the energy sector. He, however, said they could not succeed in converting the take-or-pay agreements to take-and-pay because of what he called the usual delays in getting the renegotiations done. Interestingly, Mr. Terkper, speaking on Citi FM, after Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta had read the 2019 Mid-Year Budget Review on Monday, could not point to a single renegotiation agreement but was able to demand that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration should not take credit for the take-and-pay efforts.
Alex Mould can ***barred word*** and rave for all he wants, like we care!! We are going to remove their 10% kickback they built into those contracts and cemented with judgement debt clauses if abrogated. That was the trap they set into all those contentious contracts so they can keep milking the rest of us the rest of their lives. Hypocrites and parasites(NDC)!! Thye can go burn the sea, we will make the changes for the benefit of the country. Ariiiiiise Ghana youth for your country!!!!
All of sudden Alex has all the answers to all the problems in the energy sector. Where was he when the contracts were being negotiated? Your expertise was of no use then and can’t be of use now. The language used responding to Minister to say the least is unsavory.’ Make your point without using ***barred word*** and irresponsible’ to describe certain aspects of the Minister’s speech. If not all but some of the contracts can be renegotiated does that make the decision ***barred word*** or irresponsible? Enough of the ***barred word*** and arrogance!
I JUST READ FROM CITINEWS THAT NDCs SETH TERKPEY IS PARTING HIMSELF AT THE BACK THAT HIS PARTY NDC STARTED NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE IPPs ON THIS TAKE-AND-PAY AGREEMENT BEFORE HANDING OVER POWER TO THE NPP GOVT SO WHAT IS ALEX M TALKING ABOUT? WE SHOULD ALLOW THE GOVT TO DO WHAT IS FIT FOR THE COUNTRY BECAUSE NDC HAD 8YRS RULING THE NATION AND EVERYTHING WENT BASAA UNTIL THEY SOUGHT REFUGE WITH THE IMF. A-PLUS KEN O-ATTA CANNOT AND WILL NOT TAKE TUTORIALS FROM F-MINUS NDC ADONGO, ALEX M, ATO FORSON, JOHN JINAPO, ETC..ETC
Mr. Alex Mould, your NDC lacked the skills and expertise to manage the economy well during JDMs reign. Please keep your advise to yourself. How on earth should the country be saddled with payment of $2.5B a year to IPPs because we have excess power that we don't need???. It doesn't make sense at all....I see why NDC raped this country with warped ideas like this from your very self, that's if you were part of the govt advisory team. Did I hear that you've been penciled for the running mate slot for JDM. Hmmm sani eba..