Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Monday, May 30 , 2016
It is emerging that the
Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government is under pressure to
reduce killer electricity tariffs (light bills) that have collapsed many
industries and wreaked havoc on many homes.
Cabinet reportedly had a crunch
meeting on Thursday, chaired by President John Mahama, to consider a possible reduction
of the killer tariffs since the public outcry was becoming too intense with the
opposition bashing the NDC administration.
Nana’s Promise
The government’s action is
coming at a time that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate for
the 2016 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has promised to reduce the
killer light bills when Ghanaians give him the mandate to become president in
the November polls.
High electricity bills which have been justified by the Petroleum
Minister, Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah, are collapsing businesses and causing
public anger against the Mahama administration, making the government very
unpopular.
The minister asked
Nana Akufo-Addo to tell Ghanaians what he could do differently to reduce
electricity tariffs when given the mandate to govern the country.
Nana Addo believes that the
several taxes imposed on electricity consumers are the major cause of the
public agitations, and has called on the government to scrap them or reduce
them to bring relief to the people.
On his recent tour of the
country, Nana Akufo-Addo and his entourage were continuously bombarded with
outrageous electricity bills by electricity consumers showing them (Nana and
his team) their (consumers’) light bills.
When he visited South Africa
recently the NPP flagbearer pointed out that the mismanagement of the economy
had reached a point where rent was even less expensive than electricity bills.
Tariffs Increment
The PURC increased electricity
tariffs by 59.2 % for residential consumers effective December 14 last year. But
it is turning out that many consumers are being charged monstrous rates, with
some believed to be going as high as about 300%, leading to public outcry.
The NDC propagandists are
blaming the ECG staff for deliberately fiddling with the meters in order to
turn public anger against the Mahama government.
Ironically, President John
Mahama recently beat his chest that he had succeeded in allowing the ECG to
have a clean balance sheet with the astronomical increment. The president said Ghanaians should be
prepared to pay more for the enjoyment of constant electricity supply; yet with
the tariff hikes, there seems to be shortage in supply as outages (dumsor) are
still living with consumers.
The president last Thursday made
a sudden u-turn claiming that a taskforce had been put in place to resolve the
crisis.
With elections beckoning at the corner, DAILY
GUIDE learnt that the taskforce will come with a reduction in tariffs
to catch votes.
"Cabinet today (Thursday) approved
the Inter-Agency Task Force put together to resolve complaints from the public
regarding the bills and charges being received from the Electricity Company of
Ghana (ECG) in respect of our consumption of power.
"Following our very
detailed and exhaustive discussions in Cabinet this morning, we approved the
steps taken by the Ministry of Power and expect the taskforce, which comprises
the Energy Commission, the ECG, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission
(PURC) and other stakeholders to submit its report and solution on June 03,
2016 for immediate implementation," the President said.
Gov’t Collusion
Minority spokesperson on energy,
K.T. Hammond, waded into the debate when he said yesterday that Ghanaians are
paying more for electricity because of collusion between the government, PURC and
the Ghana Standards Authority to tamper with the revolutions per kilowatt hour
on meters.
He told Citi FM that his investigations revealed that an increase in the
number of revolutions per kilowatt hour had been sanctioned by the PURC,
thereby increasing the amount individuals pay for electricity.
“I have conducted my
investigation and what has come up is that somehow the PURC has sanctioned a
situation whereby the number of revolutions that goes into a credit unit has
been reduced considerably,” he averred.
Energy Levies Act
Energy analysis experts, the Africa
Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), has also urged government to scrap the levies
and taxes imposed on electricity, saying these levies had led to the immense
increase in the electricity tariffs.
Executive Director at ACEP,
Mohammed Amin Adam, told Citi FM that
the Energy Levies Act which imposed these levies and taxes on electricity
consumption are crippling local businesses and also argued that the scrapping
of the levies would be more prudent than a reduction in electricity tariffs.
He explained that levies on
power consumption were directly responsible for the significant increase in
tariffs. “Another reason is the levies and taxes. Now you have 10 percent
levies on every kilowatt per hour consumed then 17.5 percent VAT, then you also
have a GH¢7 flat rate on every meter for all consumers,” he noted.
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