Load shedding affecting coldstore business in Tema

Cold store operators in and around Tema Fishing Harbour have appealed to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to make the electricity tariff regime more business friendly.

According to them, the running cost of their cold stores has scaled up -due to the high utility tariffs and the seemingly unending electricity load shedding.

Mr. Joseph Amoah, Accountant of Pioneer Cooperative Cold Store, told the Ghana News Agency that the high tariff and the load shedding were threatening the existence of the cold stores.

Mr. Amoah said, "PURC must reduce the tariff drastically if they want us to be in business and employ more workers."

He indicated that they do not even know how the load shedding timetable works; according to him- their power goes off-even on days they were supposed to have it.

Mr. Amoah again noted that due to the high tariffs and load shedding, one of its plants had to be shut down.

The company was currently operating one of its cold stores and one ice plant.

He explained that to keep the company running on a daily basis, they purchased more than two drums of diesel to run generators.

A drum of diesel, he noted cost Ghc735.75.

The cold store business in Tema plays a crucial role in food storage in Ghana, as most locally produced and imported meat, fish and other foods are stored in their high capacity plants for distribution to all parts of the country.

The Ghana News Agency surveyed more than ten cold store operators and all shared similar sentiments.