Gov't worry over Electricity Tarrifs

The Government says it is extremely anxious that domestic consumers do not feel the full impact of the new electricity tariffs as announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) last month.

Consequently, government last Friday raised the lifeline threshold of electricity tariff from zero to 50 to zero to 150 units to enable more families to benefit from the subsidized rate.

A government statement signed for the Minister of Information and National Orientation Ms. Oboshie Sai-Cofie explained that the increased lifeline ceiling is to cater for majority of workers whose consumption of electricity normally falls within the new range of zero to 150 units.

Government explained that the subsidy that existed for lifeline consumers has not been removed; therefore the 35 per cent increase is still applicable for lifeline consumers.

It said “the new tariff moved from 5.83 (GH) pesewas to 7.87 (GH) pesewas and not 12.00 (GH) pesewas as being banded around.”

Government also called on all domestic consumers to be conscious about conserving energy, saying that “we should replace all incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs, turn off lights when we are not using them and put off all electric gadgets when not in use.”

According to the statement, government has procured six million CFL bulbs which are currently being distributed free of charge to all domestic consumer.

The usage of these bulbs government said would lead to reduction of light bills by as much as 50 percent. The statement said government would soon initiate other measures aimed at reducing electricity tariffs of domestic users.