Story: Business Desk

The Volta River Authority’s (VRA) Senior Staff Association has expressed dissatisfaction with the effects of the updated Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM) on the company’s functionality.

According to the association, even though as an authority, it produces about 67.5 per cent of power to the national grid, and the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) produce only 32.5 per cent the disbursement of revenue has been designed to benefit the IPPs.

The Cash Waterfall Mechanism, a financial model that helps in determining the allocation of the monthly interest and the principal cash flows among the parties involved in a transaction, was implemented in April 2020 and revised in 2023 as part of the Energy Sector Recovery Programme (ESRP) to ensure fairness and transparency in distributing energy revenues among electricity distribution companies; VRA, GRIDCo, ECG and the others. 

However, the VRA Senior Staff said in a statement that the mechanism’s implementation has not reflected the intended fairness, as IPPs receive a predetermined sum of $43 million monthly.

“Currently, all available plants are running 24/7. That cannot be said about IPPs, yet at the end of the month, they are given $43 million which is more than half of all the payments made into the CWM by the ECG,” portions of the statement said.

“… Will IPPs accept this kind of treatment meted to VRA?” the Association quizzed.

Addressing the calls to privatise the operations of the Volta River Authority, the association stated that it was  the only state-owned power generator that will guarantee energy security. 

“We wish to reiterate that VRA is the only strategic state-owned power utility providing and guaranteeing the energy security for the people of Ghana and for that matter none of its assets must be put on sale. “The Authority is efficient in operating and managing its assets and thus should be allowed to operate its diverse generation mix, devoid of any unwarranted privatization”, the statement said.