Government Fulfils Promise

The government has made good its promise to pay part of the electricity bills of consumers who fall within the lifeline category.

Consequently, the government has paid ?673.3 million for 134,668 consumers in six regions for last August when the new tariff increases took effect. The consumers are in the Greater Accra, Western, Central, Eastern, Ashanti and Volta regions. The Director of Customer Services of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr. David Vukania, disclosed this in an interview in Accra.

Customers whose consumption falls between one and 50 units are considered among the lifeline consumers. He gave a breakdown of the electricity bills settled by the government for consumers in the various regions in the country. At the Accra East and Accra West offices of the company for instance, the government paid ?48.4 million for 9,685 consumers and ?73.6 million for 14,721 consumers respectively. Mr. Vukania said 7.404 consumers in Tema, also in the Greater Accra Region, benefited from a ?37 million relief.

In the Ashanti and Western regions, government settled ?104 million and ?117 million for 20,807 and 23,447 consumers respectively, Mr. Vukania explained.

Mr. Vukania further disclosed that the government paid ?89.5 million for 17,892 consumers in the Central Region while 15,183 consumers had a relief of ?75.9 million in Eastern Region. He added that the government further provided relief for 134,668 consumers in the Volta Region at a cost of ?127.6 million.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), in July this year, announced 60 per cent and 40 per cent increases in electricity and water tariffs respectively. The increases followed proposals submitted by the ECG and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) for reviews of their service charges. Following the increment, the President announced a set of short-term interventions to lessen the full effects of the increases in electricity tariffs on the vulnerable in the society. He directed that consumers of electricity in the urban and rural areas whose consumption is between one and 50 units will now pay ?9,000 instead of the ?14,000 announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC). Mr. Kufour said the government will pay up the difference of ?5,000 as a subsidy directly to the ECG.