{"id":216873,"date":"2016-05-24T18:15:54","date_gmt":"2016-05-24T18:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=216873"},"modified":"2016-05-24T18:15:54","modified_gmt":"2016-05-24T18:15:54","slug":"reduce-electricity-tariffs-immediately-nana-addo-demands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=216873","title":{"rendered":"Reduce electricity tariffs immediately – Nana Addo demands"},"content":{"rendered":"

The flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo Addo, has stressed the need for an immediate reduction in electrify tariffs.<\/p>\n

Speaking in response to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission\u2019s (PURC), directive to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), to suspend the implementation<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of their new billing software, Nana Addo insisted that even more should be done to alleviate the pressure brought on by the new tariffs.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”D5ybE9iDaLnaW9kSFGvCMKAlruj5FAPH”]The PURC late last year sanctioned an increase of 59.2 percent and 67.2 percent<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for electricity and water tariffs respectively.<\/p>\n

But businesses and individuals expressed displeasure with the increases which they described as astronomical.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0NPP flagbearer reiterated customers’ concerns explaining that the rates being paid by industries, for example, left them in a noncompetitive position comparing to countries in the sub-region like the Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the matter is more fundamental and should go further than that. If you look at the rates we are charging industry, as well as domestic users for electricity in Ghana, comparing for instance to Cote d\u2019Ivoire, already it puts our enterprises in a noncompetitive comparison. Ghanaian industry and economic activities are suffering unnecessarily,\u201d Nana Addo stated.<\/p>\n

Government’s insatiable appetite for taxes to blame<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nana Addo further indicated that the high tariffs are in part due to what he described as the \u201cinsatiable appetite\u201d of this government for taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA large part of it is due to the taxes, the insatiable appetite of the Mahama government for taxes \u2013 10% energy levy which is charged for both domestic and commercial uses; a service charge of GH\u00a27 flat rate for every consumer and a VAT of 17\u00bd% for commercial users.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important for us to recognize in Ghana that, whatever we are doing, we are doing so in a globally competitive context, and if we don\u2019t recognize that, many of the decisions we make about the management of our economy are going to put us at a disadvantage. I am saying it is absolutely imperative and urgent that the public authorities find a way to reduce electricity tariffs in our country immediately and do so now,\u201d Nana Addo added.<\/p>\n

Below is Nana Addo’s full statement<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have taken notice of today\u2019s statement made by the PURC that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) should suspend its billing system. I think the matter is more fundamental and should go further than that.<\/p>\n

If you look at the rates we are charging, industry, as well as domestic users, for electricity in Ghana, compared, for instance, to Cote d\u2019Ivoire, already, it puts our enterprises in a very uncompetitive comparison.<\/p>\n

In Ghana, my understanding is that the tariff for commercial users is 32 US cents\/kilowatt hour. The Ivorian equivalent is 13 US cents\/kilowatt hour. Again, for domestic users, we are talking about 19.28 US cents\/kilowatt hour, when Cote d\u2019Ivoire equivalent is a tariff of 9 US cents\/kilowatt hour. So, you put these things together, and, already, Ghanaian industry and economic activity are suffering unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

A large part of it is due to the taxes, the insatiable appetite of the Mahama government for taxes \u2013 10% energy levy which is charged for both domestic and commercial uses; a service charge of GH\u00a27 flat rate for every consumer and a VAT of 17\u00bd% for commercial users.<\/p>\n

I believe all of these figures can be significantly reduced to be able to bring the electricity tariff system in our country to a much more competitive relationship with that of our neighbours and what is going on in the region. It is important for us to recognize in Ghana that, whatever we are doing, we are doing so in a globally competitive context, and if we don\u2019t recognize that, many of the decisions we make about the management of our economy are going to put us at a disadvantage from the get go.<\/p>\n

I am saying it is absolutely imperative and urgent that the public authorities find a way to reduce electricity tariffs in our country immediately and do so now.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo Addo, has stressed the need for an immediate reduction in electrify tariffs. Speaking in response to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission\u2019s (PURC), directive to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), to suspend the implementation of their new billing software, Nana Addo insisted that even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":214931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-slider-1","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=216873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/214931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=216873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=216873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=216873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}