Ghanaians to pay 'realistic' rates for electricity

Accra, Sept. 20, GNA - Ghanaians were on Thursday asked to decide whether to pay the full recovery cost for electricity to enable them to enjoy continuous supply since dependency on the Akosombo hydro power was no longer a viable option.

Mr Michael O. Sackey, Principal Information Officer, Volta River Authority (VRA) said, currently, Ghanaians depended more on electricity from the Aboadze Thermal Plant than on hydro and it would continue even with the normal water level in the dam.

"Hydro no longer serves the nation's need," he said when he contributed to a discussion on "Assessing the effectiveness of using the UN Global Compact Cities programme for the development of Ghanaian cities in some selected Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) with focus on service delivery in the power sector" The programme was organised by the Private Enterprise Foundation with support from the UNDP.

Mr Sackey said Ghana's cost recovery for electricity was one of the lowest in the sub-region, adding that although the VRA spent a total of about 40 million dollars on electricity generation each month, it recovered only 25 million dollars on the average.

"Electricity is a tradable commodity and since all the equipment and tools used in the production of the power are brought from the international market like all other countries, it is essential that we paid realistic prices to recover cost," he said.

Mr Sackey said about 14 million dollars was used every month in the purchase of light crude oil which was not passed on to the consumer, hence the intermittent disruption in power supply.

"Government has been assisting in the provision of oil when need be, but it is important that Ghanaians decided now, whether they want to pay full cost to get dependable electricity supply," he said.

Mr E K. Anto of the College of Engineering, in a research work with Dr K. Diawuo recommended that to ensure improvement in power supply the Public Utility and Regulatory Commission (PURC) would have to address the issue of realistic tariff for the electric power utilities to enable them, at least, to fully recover the cost of operations, whilst at the same time ensuring that consumers had the commensurate quality of power service delivery. "The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) must address other electricity meter-related issues like unbilled consumers, late submission of bills, inaccurate/ under-reading meters.

"These un-addressed issues definitely lead to reduction in revenue and hence funds for the needed infrastructure and operations duties," he said.

The research also recommended that, "the ECG should improve ways of capturing consumption data and pattern to assist in long-term energy/ power forecasting and planning" It called for collaboration between the ECG and the town planning authorities to ensure proper planning for the metropolis in terms of power supply.

"High penalties for illegal connection and sanctions for non-payment of bill should be instituted," the research recommended, adding; "there is the need for frequent cross-sector interactions and forum between electric power suppliers (ECG), industries and other stakeholders to brainstorm and assess the performance of the services over a period of time".