Electricity tariff adjustment: IPPs, consumer groups Clash ECG, VRA and others

Listen to this Article Now Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Independent Power Producers and other consumer stakeholders in the power area are battling the Electricity Company of Ghana, the Ghana Grid Company, Northern Electricity Company and the Volta River Authority, over a potential expansion in power levy.

Notwithstanding, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) is thinking about changing power duty upwards once its Board is reconstituted.

While the stakeholders including the Independent Power Producers contend that the expense of power in the nation is excessively high, contrasted with adjoining nations, ECG and the other power age and transmission firms accept their expense of tasks have gone up, justifying an expansion in power duty.

During the partner commitment that the PURC held, Joy Business, understands that the IPPs and the other stakeholders according to the consumer point of view requested decrease in power bills.

This is on the grounds that they contended that somewhere in the range of 16% and 24% of power misfortune to specialized and business misfortunes by ECG is no issue of theirs.

They likewise guarantee that the nation is working inside its contracted levy, and thusly the solitary touchy factor is fuel cost.

They further called attention to that ECG’s failure has converted into high levy for consumers.

The Energy Minister, Dr. Mattew Opoku Prempeh yesterday charged the recently established Board of the VRA to guarantee a dependable and moderate power supply in the country.

As indicated by him, government hates “dumsor” and is attempting to guarantee that the nation doesn’t get back to the period of discontinuous power supply.

Be that as it may, ECG and NEDCo, Joy Business understands need cash to keep their tasks above water notwithstanding the misfortunes.

The Private Enterprise Federation prior kicked against the increment in power levy, saying it will disable numerous organizations, in the midst of Covid-19.

It rather asked government to do all that could be within reach to make the Electricity Company of Ghana cutthroat.

“We are interesting to government to guarantee that whatever ECG needs, let them have it to guarantee that we have reliable progression of energy”, Chief Executive Officer, Nana Osei Bonsu revealed to Joy Business.

The Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Bulk Consumers and Distributors prior likewise scrutinized the reasoning behind calls for power tax change, saying, that must be done when ECG is effective and monetarily solid.

As per the IPPs, the ECG isn’t serious even among its companions in the West African sub district.

The International Monetary Fund in a report said the power area deficiency stays huge and developing, as power levies address just 73% of cost recuperation levels, with a huge differential among family and business duties.

This tax it said had just expanded by only 5% since 2015.

“A tax audit was booked for July 2021. The specialists’ demonstrating investigation proposes that changing taxes to expansion would be expected to bring the yearly monetary deficiency from power age under US$500 million by 2024”, the Fund said

The Bretton Wood foundation said the Electricity Company of Ghana keeps on experiencing enormous specialized misfortunes, coming to ¢3 billion of every 2018, a huge decay contrasted and 2016 and 2017.

It said the ECG keeps on overseeing power dispersion, without a reasonable change plan.

A metering framework is being set up to address power burglary and misfortunes.