A member of the Communication team of the People’s Progressive Party, Samuel Amoako says the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) should be overhauled in order to streamline its operations.
Samuel Amoako, speaking on Peace Fm, expressed distrust in the authorities of the company to ameliorate the energy situation the country is grappling with.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission on Thursday, June 4, 2013 indicated that it will soon start a “major tariff review process” after receiving proposals from the service providers for an increment in electricity and water bills.
Three years ago, tariffs on power and water supply saw an upward adjustment of 89% and 36% respectively but since then the rates have been reviewed quarterly. The rates were however fixed since November 30, 2011 and in 2012, the nation hardly experienced any further adjustments.
The country has since last year gone through major energy and water setbacks, therefore putting pressure on ECG to deliver its best to resolve the perennial power fluctuations.
The company is said to account for around one-fifth of the power sold to it by the Volta River Authority (VRA) and is accumulating debt at a rate of GHC 26 million per month to the Authority, said Ekow Acquah, Manager for Sales Contracts and Regulations of the Authority.
In total, ECG is indebted to a tune of GHC 545 million in April. This therefore has necessitated the proposal by the company to opt for an increment in the tariffs.
However, the PPP Communicator insists that the new tariff proposal does not augur well for the nation since consumers always fall victim to any increment in utility bills.
He therefore held strongly that “there should be an overhaul, institutional overhaul of State institutions. The nation is suffering. We need overhauling of the Electricity Company of Ghana. The debt that they want to incur upon Ghanaians won’t help us.”