A former ranking member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, Adam Mutawakilu has kicked against proposals by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for tariff increment.
He says the ECG has not demonstrated its capacity to effectively manage its resources hence there is no justification for an increment in tariffis.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, the former Damongo legislator said ECG is undeserving of an increment if it is unable to prove how it is tackling the about 25% losses it suffers to technical and commercial issues.
“How much of our monies is being lost? If that is not tackled, then we are wasting our time on this. They are just taking money from Ghanaians and wasting it. Technical and commercial losses alone is over 25% and that means that for every 100 million that ECG is expected to collect, they can’t account for 25 million of it. So if we only concentrate on increasing tariff without reducing technical and commercial losses, we will come back to square one,” he said.
Adam Mutawakilu said the government had a good chance to tackle the inefficiencies leading to losses the ECG suffered through the PDS deal but it “messed it up.”
He said the deal would have to ensure that the ECG’s infrastructure is improved and service delivery made better, but that did not happen.
He said it was unfair to make consumers pay more for power when they do not enjoy improved service.
“Should the consumer always be the punching bag? I have not seen how previous increments have helped reduce the technical and commercial losses,” he noted.
The Managing Director of the company, Kwame Agyeman-Budu at a public forum on Thursday, April 8, 2021, said ECG needs more resources to improve its service.
He said while he is aware that the proposal will only materialize after approval from the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC), he believes that it is critical for ECG to have access to more funds to enable it to operate efficiently.
“We need money to do it [improve]. If we get the increase we will love it [but] that will be up to the PURC because, no matter what we propose, they will ultimately decide,” he said.
“In terms of distribution, we need support, because we have to do upgrades to make sure the system is sustainable. We don’t wait till something is broken before we fix it. We need additional funds to upgrade our systems at all times,” he added.
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