Economist and Investment Consultant, Kwame Pianim has called for a thirty percent increase in electricity tariffs to help in correcting the books of all players within the energy sector with regards to the legacy debts.
The comment comes at a time where the Public Utility Regulatory Commission is expected to announce major tariff decisions for the rest of the year
He made these comments to Citi Business News at the sidelines of the launch of the Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers.
“If there is no effective competitive tariff then all the key players in the sector have very weak balance sheets, if they have weak balance sheets then they cannot plan and respond to demand with minimal political interference”
“Invariably, we have all as Ghanaians continued to think that there is a Father Christmas who will pay for the subsidies in the energy sector. If those of us in the residential area are paying only sixty percent of the cost of electricity, there is something wrong. We can do about a thirty percent increase gradually maybe over a five year period”.
The Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors and Bulk Consumers (CIPDIB–Ghana) was inaugurated on the 18th of June, 2019 to assist the government in the area of policy formulation and regulation of the energy sector.
The Chamber among others would help to create a platform for advocacy towards influencing legislation in the area of energy, serve as an incubator for generating ideas and share best practices among the players of the industry.
The CIPDIB is expected to ensure coordination of the players in the industry towards introducing innovation in the energy generation and energy mix for sustainable energy supply.
The Chamber was launched in Accra on the theme: “Promoting Sustainable Energy Sector and Quality Service Delivery for the Socio-economic Development of Ghana”.
Mr. Pianim also urged all sector players to embrace CIPDIB as part of their decision-making process and support the Chamber to be in a position to research and provide objective facts as well as best country practices.
He said: “when the Chamber is supported to deliver on its objectives, your deliberations with government and regulators on policy decision-making may be surprisingly more productive than your solo efforts of the past”.
Dr. Nii Darko Asante, the Director of Technical Regulation at the Energy Commission, said the cost of power in the country was among one of the highest across the globe because of the high cost of production, emanating from poor contracts and large sector debt.
He said there was currently an excess supply of energy unlike the shortages that were recorded earlier and the country was still facing challenges due to balance between supply and demand.
Dr. Asante said for the country to achieve sustainability in the energy sector, there was the need to balance supply and demand, adding that “we have to plan things well to ensure that we will not have too much capacity and we will also not have too little to meet the needs of the country”.
