The entire country is up in arms over recent increases in electricity tariffs that are at a scale almost never seen before.
On top of an economy with soaring prices and stagnant wages, the pressure on the ordinary Ghanaian to make ends meet has never been greater.
In the midst of this all, government has been doing little to arrest the issue- the PURC has issued a directive to ECG, but there’s little to indicate that would correct the wrong of ludicrous tariffs people already suffered.
NPP flagbearer Nana Akuffo-Addo has promised to end the increasing tariff regime if he is elected President. Nana Addo, in a message on his social media page, pledged the reduction if government does not do anything to arrest the situation.
“If the government cannot or will not listen to the calls for the reduction of electricity tariffs, it is important for the people of Ghana to know that, God-willing, if I win the elections of this year, I definitely will.” He said.
Nana Addo, in an earlier statement, had called on the ECG to arrest the situation.
He wrote:
REDUCE ELECTRICITY TARRIFS NOW
I have taken notice of today’s statement made by the PURC that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) should suspend its billing system. I think the matter is more fundamental and should go further than that. If you look at the rates we are charging, industry, as well as domestic users, for electricity in Ghana, compared, for instance, to Cote d’Ivoire, already, it puts our enterprises in a very uncompetitive comparison.
In Ghana, my understanding is that the tariff for commercial users is 32 US cents/kilowatt hour. The Ivorian equivalent is 13 US cents/kilowatt hour. Again, for domestic users, we are talking about 19.28 US cents/kilowatt hour, when Cote d’Ivoire equivalent is a tariff of 9 US cents/kilowatt hour. So, you put these things together, and, already, Ghanaian industry and economic activity are suffering unnecessarily. A large part of it is due to the taxes, the insatiable appetite of the Mahama government for taxes – 10% energy levy which is charged for both domestic and commercial uses; a service charge of GH¢7 flat rate for every consumer and a VAT of 17½% for commercial users.
I believe all of these figures can be significantly reduced to be able to bring the electricity tariff system in our country to a much more competitive relationship with that of our neighbours and what is going on in the region. It is important for us to recognize in Ghana that, whatever we are doing, we are doing so in a globally competitive context, and if we don’t recognize that, many of the decisions we make about the management of our economy are going to put us at a disadvantage from the get go.
I am saying it is absolutely imperative and urgent that the public authorities find a way to reduce electricity tariffs in our country immediately and do so now.