New electricity bills to bring relief to users – John Jinapor               

Commercial and industrial users of electricity can now heave a sigh of relief as government has agreed for them to pay less for the power they consume.

This is part of government’s bid to allow commercial and industry users enjoy better access to electricity without any hindrance to their businesses.

Industry players early this year raised red flags on what they called “killer tariffs” following the outrageous bills they had to foot which sent their businesses to a near collapse.

Government has however announced a re-introduction of subsidies to cushion low level consumers of electricity.

This was contained in a new tariff regime released by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), efficient July 1.

Per the latest tariffs, electricity consumers are expected to pay less if their power consumption is between zero and fifty units.

Speaking on the breakfast show however, Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor said the subsidies are in categories and bands but will definitely bring relief to users.

“The commercial and industrial users will enjoy some subsidy but they are in categories and bands. So when we publish the reckon and issue the statement, it will clearly be stated. We progressively over the period want to ensure that commercial users rather pay less for the power they consume because it is for productive use and government is paying for the difference.”

Dr. Wereko Brobbey disagrees

Meanwhile a former CEO of VRA as well as a policy analyst, Dr Charles Wrekko Brobbey has rejected claims made by government that it has introduced subsidies to cushion low level consumers of electricity.

Speaking to Citi Business News, he insists no subsidy has been introduced pertaining this development.

“It is not true; you are being charged VAT, energy levies, street light among others and those have gone up from almost 1 to about 5 percent…when you say you are subsidizing something, it means you are charging below how much it costs. But here is the case that you (government) are giving with the left hand, yet you are taking with the right,” he stated.

ECG simplified

The recent electricity tariff though released effective 1st July has already sparked controversy and confusion among Ghanaians.

The subsidy will see both residential and non residential users enjoy some level of subsidization from government per the band one falls in.

According to a list released by the ECG, Government has subsidized bills as follows.

For the residential homes, between 1-10 units KWh has been subsidized to 0.63 and 0.77% of government’s subsidy.

15- 20 units KWh will enjoy a subsidy of between 0.85-0.94%.

25-40 units KWh enjoy 1.02%-1.20%.

 Between 45-50 units KWh will now enjoy a 1.14 and 1.43% subsidy.

 A 60-80 unit KWh meter will be enjoying 1.23-2.05% subsidies and between 90 – 110 unit KWh will have a subsidy of 2.47-3.29%.

120-150 units KWh will also enjoy a 3.71-4.95% government subsidy.

The rest however do not get any subsidy from government for the residential homes.

The non residential such as the commercial and industrial users however enjoy subsidization all through. For between 1-10 units KWh gets a subsidy of between 0.06-0.50%.

Between 60 to 100 units KWh benefits 2.99%-4.98%.

Between 150 and 250 units KWh also gets 7.47%-10.46%

A 300 units KWh user enjoys a subsidy of 14.94% and a 500 units KWh enjoys a 20.24%.

Between 700- 900 units KWh also enjoys a subsidy of 24.98% and 29.16%.

A 1,000 units KWh will enjoy a 31.25% subsidy whiles a 10,000 unit KWh enjoys a subsidy of 219.35%.

By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana