ECG power sales reduce by GH¢25m a day anytime the weather gets cold - MD

Daily sales and revenue by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) reduces by GH¢25 million whenever it rains in any part of Ghana and the weather gets cold, the Managing Director (MD) of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama has said.

Mr Dubik Mahama's explanation is that, the weather gets cold when it rains and so people's consumption of electricity to maintain a cold temperature in homes and offices goes down.

He said this to express worry about how the ECG is sometimes unable to meet its financial obligations based on agreements entered into taking into consideration the projections on revenues made on a monthly basis and the fundamental flaws associated with it.

Mr Dubik Mahama said this while shedding light on the substantial financial burden that weather changes imposes on the ECG in a television interview with Joy News.

He said the ECG was getting to know about all these details through data obtained by digitalising the company's operations.

"Electricity sale is seasonal, there is a down time, and the down time is when the weather is cold. When the weather is cold , people do not consume, and the weather has been cold for how many months now... people are using less power now and we are making less money," he added.

He said with any day that there is rainfall, "we have a shortfall of between GH¢30 million to GH¢20 million in a day. So anytime I see rain, I get sad, we are not going to get money, so what then happens to our obligations. But this is the thing, we plan all year round with the same tariff. In certain parts of the world, the tariff is not flat, when it is cold it varies, heat comes to replace, they find a way to balance it up but we have a tariff that runs all year, it never conceptualize or took into play the down periods.

Mr Dubik Mahama said now it is showing its effects with what is happening with the Volta River, so clearly, consumption is on the low side and "whatever we are collecting now is not going to be adequate enough for the shortfall within this period.

”Before the rainy season set in, ECG was averaging between GH¢40 million to GH¢50 million a day. Now any single day that you see rain, note that we are down by GH¢25 million,” he said.

He said it is about how people live, how buildings are constructed... with most people, as soon as they see the natural air blowing, they are not going to consume.