Power companies, we deserve better supply

Every thriving economy depends on a reliable and constant supply of electricity. It is the continuous flow of electricity that ensures that all the sectors of the economy experience unhindered growth.

Undoubtedly, all sectors of the economy have experienced a serious jolt since the country began experiencing unreliable power supply in what has become commonly known as “dumsor” or “dumdum” when power outages become incessant and unbearable.

One of the measures taken by the utility providers, in partnership with the government, through the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), to reverse the situation was to ask consumers to pay higher tariffs, which they referred to as realistic tariffs.

After a lot of back and forth movements and complaints by consumers that the tariffs were unreasonably high and  suffocating businesses, as well as family budgets, which also brought about the issue of wrong billing software, consumers have resigned themselves to the revised tariffs which came into force in December 2015.

The intention was to supply adequate and reliable electricity to homes, offices and industries, as the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and other players in the power sector such as the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), as well as independent power producers, continued to cite inadequate electricity tariffs as the reason for poor service delivery.

However, even after consumers have unwillingly agreed to pay high tariffs for electricity, the power supply situation has been anything but better, with unplanned power outages on the rise.

It is in view of this that the Daily Graphic commends the PURC for holding a crunch meeting with the three power companies to ascertain why power consumers are still experiencing power outages after they had agreed to pay higher tariffs.

Indeed, we agree with the PURC that the excuse by the power producers that fuel is not available is untenable. The Daily Graphic believes that Ghanaians must not suffer because of the inadequacies of the power companies, especially when the country currently has an installed capacity of 3,200 megawatts (MW), while its total demand is only 2,100MW.

We believe that the Ghanaian consumer deserves to be told the truth about the real situation, otherwise, power consumers deserve constant and adequate power that matches the realistic tariffs they are paying.

Indeed, as Mr Seth Terkper said in Parliament last Monday, the country’s existing installed capacity of power plants is enough to meet current demand and has the potential to supply others.

We believe that what we need is alternative arrangements to get gas and fuel to run our many power plants, otherwise, projects such as the 220MW Kpone Thermal Power Project (KTPP); the 110MW TICO expansion project; the 180MW first half of the  Asogli Phase 2 Project; the 20MW BXC solar plant; the 225MW Karpowership and the 250MW AMERI plant would all amount to nothing. 

Also, the 82.34 per cent access to electricity as of the end of June 2016 will not mean anything if power does not reach homes and offices consistently.

The Daily Graphic appeals to those responsible for the power sector to rise up to the occasion to discharge their mandate of efficient and reliable power to consumers.