<<Print>>

The Electricity Company (ECG) of Ghana has proposed an increase in tariffs from Ghp 9.76 /kWh to Ghp 30.67 /kWh, an increase of 214 per cent in the current Distribution Service Charge. Mr Ebenezer Baiden, Acting Divisional Manager for Procurement at ECG, said the total revenue requirements for 2013 is GH� 2,540.84 million and appealed for the support of all to enable it secure a tariff, which is commensurate with the cost of electricity distribution. Mr Baiden made the proposal at a stakeholder consultative meeting on the 2013 major tariff review process in Accra on Tuesday. It was organised by the Public Utility Regulatory Commission to enable the utilities interact with the business community on their proposals. Mr Baiden said the need for tariff adjustment is necessitated due to increase in operational costs such as maintenance expenses, cost of revenue collection, tools, equipment and service vehicles for line patrols, and information and communication technology operations. He said unavailability of natural gas and the need for reliability in power generation has made ECG to contract more generation capacities to augment power supply, which has resulted in increase in power generation costs. Mr Baiden said in 2013 ECG is facing a generation cost of Ghp47.5/kWh and that the current bulk generation tariff makes provision for only Ghp10.53/kWh He said the vision of ECG is to be among the leading electricity distribution companies in Africa and its mission is to provide quality, reliable and safe electricity services to support the economic growth and development of Ghana. He said unavailability of natural gas supply to Ghana through the West Africa Gas Pipe Lines, resulted in the need to ration power supply to customers. Mr Kofi Ellis, Director of Planning and Business Development, at Volta River Authority (VRA) said his outfits had proposed a tariff adjustment from Ghp 8.45 /kWh to Ghp 19.8 /kWh, an increase of 134 per cent. He said high crude oil prices projected at an average of $119.79/bbl for 2013 would compel VRA to commit a substantial amount of its revenue to the procurement of light crude oil (LCO) and natural gas for electricity generation. Mr Ellis said in 2012, VRA spent GH�1,045.28 million on purchases of LCO and GH�230.84 million on purchases of natural gas, a total sum of GH�1,276.12 million, which constituted about 98 per cent of total power sales of GH�1,300.914 million in 2012. Fuel purchases for 2013 are estimated at GH�1,512.04 million. He said VRA now buys a cargo of crude oil (450,000 barrels) every two weeks at the cost of about $50 million.