Electricity tariffs reduction feasible if only funds are available – IES

The Institute for the Energy Security says a reduction in the electricity tariffs can only be be considered by the government if there are enough funds to cushion the revenue shortfall. Groups and individuals including the former President John Dramani Mahama have called for the scrapping or reduction in electricity tariffs in the period of the coronavirus. The Executive Director of the

Institute for Energy Security, Paa Kwesi Anamuah Sakyi said a thorough analysis of the request is important before a decision is made. As such a time, you only seek for the relief for your citizens. Given that we are getting money from the private sector as well as the Stabilization Fund, if it is enough, then we can consider reducing the price of electricity as well to ensure that

the citizens have some form of relief. We need to have this money available to fill the gap, either than that, the power sector will suffer in future. So it is a good call but we should be mindful of how to fill the gap. For us at IES, the reliable consistent power supply is more key than to have a reduced price of a commodity and not making it available and so we should consider that in the equation, he said.

Demands for reduction of electricity tariffs

The government will take care of the water bills for all Ghanaians for April, May and June 2020 following an increase in the country’s coronavirus cases amidst a partial lockdown of the epicentres of the disease. The President Nana Akufo Addo in his fifth national address on Sunday, April 5, 2020, made the announcement as the government intensifies the fight against COVID-19 in

Ghana. Following this decision, many individuals and the groups have asked the President to do same with electricity tariffs. The Former President John Dramani Mahama is one of those asking for subsidization of the electricity tariffs amid the Coronavirus outbreak in Ghana. Mr. Mahama in a statement suggested that “a subsidy payment from the Stabilization Fund to the ECG

and other generating companies can also provide some temporary relief, however small, to consumers in this difficult period. He, however also acknowledged that although government’s decision to provide relief from the water tariffs is commendable, “the lack of water in many parts of the specified areas make the three month cancellation of the tariffs also meaningless for some.

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has also asked the President to consider a waiver on electricity bills as part of the social interventions put in place to cushion Ghanaians also against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.