President John Mahama has charged the reconstituted board of the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) to fix reasonable electricity tariffs.
Speaking at the swearing in ceremony of the nine -member board of the PURC on Thursday, President Mahama said the board must also ensure power is affordable for business and residential consumers.
He said the move will ensure more private sector participation in power generation.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Zngmj5Ngw7vAXMQexfndDFA4BNFjcPZ9″]“We are entering an era where we are seeing more private sector, interest and participation in the Energy and Power sector and the only way that the private sector will invest their money in energy and power generation is if they feel that the plain field is conducive, that it is level and reasonable and it guarantees them a fair return on the investment that they make and it is the PURC that can create that kind of environment for them,” President Mahama explained.
The PURC on September 30, 2014 announced an increment of electricity and water tariffs by 6.54 percent and 4.54 percent respectively.
The Commission explained that the increment was agreed on, after careful consideration of all factors which forms the basis of the Automatic Adjustment Formula and advised Ghanaians to conserve energy and water to reduce the challenges being faced with the unreliable supply of these two essential commodities.
Power supply to improve
The President also touched on challenges facing Ghana’s power generation systems.
According to him, the country is targeting to increase power generation to 5000 megawatts by 2015 to address inconsistent power supply in the country.
Ghana has been facing power challenges in recent times.
The challenge compelled President Mahama to create a power ministry and appoint the Chairman of Parliaments Energy Committee.
The Minister of Power, Kwabena Donkor was on Thursday approved by Parliament to oversee their operations.
Meanwhile the Chairman of the reconstituted board Engineer Emmanuel Annan has assured the President of the board’s commitment to addressing the challenges facing the power sector.
“This new board will continue to work equally hard…The members that we have put together are all willing to work very hard to ensure that this happens.”
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana