A total amount of GH¢273.8m was raised from the street light levy between 2018 and 2019, Energy Minister John Peter Amewu has told parliament.

In line with the Energy Sector Levies (Amendment) Act 2017, 3% per price of kWh of electricity is charged on all categories of consumers as public lighting levy.

The purpose of the levy is to support payment for energy consumed by traffic lights, street lights, and public lights on highways, as well as to support investment and maintenance of traffic lights, street lights, and public lights on highways by Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

The levy is required to be collected by the Electricity Company of Ghana, NEDCO, VRA, and other suppliers of electricity.

In 2018, an amount of GH¢134m was collected by ECG, VRA and NEDCO.

An amount of GH¢38m was transferred to the Ministry of Energy, out of which GH¢21m was utilised by the Ministry.

Similarly, in 2019, an amount of GH¢139m was collected by ECG, VRA and NEDCO. An amount of GH¢44m was transferred to the Ministry of Energy, out of which GH?42m was utilised by the Ministry.

US$230m renewable energy programme

Touching on government’s agenda to drive renewable energy adoption, the Minister said the Ministry has advanced the development of the US$230m Scaling Up Renewable Energy Programme, which is being funded by the Climate Investment Fund (CIF), the Swiss Government, African Development Bank, and the Government of Ghana.

“The project is in the CIF sealed pipeline and the full implementation will provide electricity access to over 700,000 un-electrified inhabitants in some of the most deprived communities in the country,” he said.

Additionally, he indicated that the government intends to have public institutions such as Ministries, Departments, and Agencies integrate solar in their buildings to reduce their high electricity bills. To this end, the Ministry of Energy in 2019 added another 60KWp of solar PV to its existing 50KWp.

The Ministry has also awarded a contract for the construction of a 912KWp solar plant to supply about 60 percent of total electricity demand at the Jubilee House. The construction is being carried out by 3SIL/SPS, a wholly-owned Ghanaian company, and work is at 70 percent completion.

The project is expected to be fully completed by December 2020.

The government has also signed a bilateral agreement with Germany on reform partnerships in the area of renewable energy and energy efficiency, to the tune of €100m. This partnership will contribute to increasing the contribution of renewable energy in the generation mix through the embedded generation and productive uses, the Minister stated.