Consumers Unhappy About Electricity Cost

Consumers of electricity have begun complaining vehemently about the high cost of electricity tariffs.

A cross-section of Ghanaians who spoke to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE expressed various sentiments about the high cost, saying it was making life unbearable for them.

Some of them, who spoke very emotionally, did not understand why electricity could go up by almost 100 percent even though the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) had increased tariffs by just 35 percent for both electricity and water.

Though government in December last year subsidized the electricity tariff by raising the lifeline threshold from zero to 50, to zero to 150 units to enable more families to enjoy the rate, the consumers believe it has not reflected.

Government in a statement explained that the increased lifeline ceiling was to cater for the majority of Ghanaian workers - nurses, teachers, and civil servants whose consumption of electricity normally falls within the new range of zero to 150 units.

But ?we cannot see this support from the government,? Frank Tetteh of Awudome Estates told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE, adding that he buys GH?40 worth of recharge units every time which lasts for only one month.

Kwame Osei of Taifa also lashed out at the Electricity Company of Ghana, noting that the ECG had been cheating Ghanaians even though government had provided subsidy, which was announced by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mrs Oboshie Sai-Cofie.

?We will vote the government out of power, come December 2008 if they don?t reverse these hardships. We earn little income but spend more on our living; how can this happen?? Rukiaytu Commey of Banana Inn told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE.

The ECG in October began an exercise to replace old meters with new ones, a phenomenon that it believed could help it recover electricity cost fully.

Areas such as Laterbiokorshie, Korle Bu, Mamprobi, Sabon Zongo, Abossey Okai, and Kaneshie among others in the capital Accra have already experienced this new shift by the ECG and VRA.