|
Ghanaians to consider fair cost recovery for electricity
Accra, Sept. 20, Ghanadot/GNA - Ghanaians
were on Thursday asked to decide whether to pay the full
recovery cost for electricity to enable them to enjoy
continuous supply since dependency on the Akosombo hydro
power was no longer a viable option.
Mr Michael O. Sackey, Principal Information Officer, Volta
River Authority (VRA) said, currently, Ghanaians depended
more on electricity from the Aboadze Thermal Plant than on
hydro and it would continue even with the normal water level
in the dam.
"Hydro no longer serves the nation's need," he said when he
contributed to a discussion on "Assessing the effectiveness
of using the UN Global Compact Cities programme for the
development of Ghanaian cities in some selected
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) with
focus on service delivery in the power sector."
The programme was organised by the Private Enterprise
Foundation with support from the UNDP.
Mr Sackey said Ghana's cost recovery for electricity was one
of the lowest in the sub-region, adding that although the
VRA spent a total of about 40 million dollars on electricity
generation each month, it recovered only 25 million dollars
on the average.
"Electricity is a tradable commodity and since all the
equipment and tools used in the production of the power are
brought from the international market like all other
countries, it is essential that we paid realistic prices to
recover cost," he said.
Mr Sackey said about 14 million dollars was used every month
in the purchase of light crude oil which was not passed on
to the consumer, hence the intermittent disruption in power
supply.
"Government has been assisting in the provision of oil when
need be, but it is important that Ghanaians decided now,
whether they want to pay full cost to get dependable
electricity supply," he said.
Mr E K. Anto of the College of Engineering, in a research
work with Dr K. Diawuo recommended that to ensure
improvement in power supply the Public Utility
and Regulatory Commission (PURC) would have to address the
issue of realistic tariff for the electric power utilities
to enable them, at least, to fully recover
the cost of operations, whilst at the same time ensuring
that consumers had the commensurate quality of power service
delivery.
"The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) must address other
electricity meter-related issues like unbilled consumers,
late submission of bills, inaccurate/ under-reading meters.
"These un-addressed issues definitely lead to reduction in
revenue and hence funds for the needed infrastructure and
operations duties," he said.
The research also recommended that, "the ECG should improve
ways of capturing consumption data and pattern to assist in
long-term energy/ power forecasting and planning" It called
for collaboration between the ECG and the town planning
authorities to ensure proper planning for the metropolis in
terms of power supply.
"High penalties for illegal connection and sanctions for
non-payment of bill should be instituted," the research
recommended, adding; "there is the need for frequent
cross-sector interactions and forum between electric power
suppliers (ECG), industries and other stakeholders to
brainstorm and assess the performance of the services over a
period of time".
GNA
|
