Government is projecting to save over 465 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity in the next 10 years with the launch and introduction of the ECOWAS Refrigerators and Air Conditioners Initiative (ECOFRIDGES).

With the same initiative, households, on the other hand are projected to save about GH¢1,300 a year, by replacing old air conditioners with new ones, rating 3-star and above.

At a ceremony in Accra to launch the ECOFRIDGES project, the Director, Renewable & Nuclear Energy at the Energy Ministry, Wisdom Ahiataku-Togobo, said the introduction of ECOFRIDGES took over 12 months of effort in research and design of a sustainable financial mechanism that will enable customers to acquire energy-efficient and climate-friendly ACs and refrigeration appliances.

The scheme, however brings financial institutions and vendors together to provide flexible payment terms to workers who purchase the products.

Currently, Ecobank, Fidelity, Absa Bank, Cal Bank and Letshego have enrolled to offer ECOFRIDGES in their business scheme in order to accelerate adoption of energy-efficient and climate-friendly domestic cooling appliances.

“ECOFRIDGES addresses a significant hurdle in the market uptake of new energy-efficient appliances, improves standards of clearing secondhand appliances on the market, and makes it possible for people to use air conditioners and fridges” Mr Ahiataku explained.

The Director of Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Commission, Kofi Agyarko, noted, “This programme positions Ghana as an African leader in advancing sustainable development, helping assure a better quality of life for our people while advancing the climate goals of the Paris Agreement and the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol”

He however appealed to Ghanaians to desist from purchasing used electrical appliances on the Ghanaian market.

Executive Secretary of the Energy Commission, Oscar Amonoo-Neizer, described the ECOFRIDGES initiative as a timely intervention particularly at a time that the Commission is heightening the campaign against home-used electrical appliances.

He said the initiative would save consumers money on their electricity bills.

ECOFRIDGES) is a joint project by the Governments of Ghana and Senegal, the United Nations Environment Programme’s United for Efficiency (UNEP U4E) initiative and the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE).

Through ECOFRIDGES GO, local financial institutions aim by 2023 to unlock at least US$11 million in financing in Ghana to support the purchase of over 15,000 more sustainable cooling appliances and entice the replacement of old existing equipment.