{"id":373887,"date":"2017-11-15T12:19:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T12:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=373887"},"modified":"2017-11-15T12:39:06","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T12:39:06","slug":"ghbudget-electricity-tariffs-to-be-reduced-by-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=373887","title":{"rendered":"#Ghbudget: Electricity tariffs to be reduced by 13%"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has proposed an average\u00a0reduction of 13 percent in\u00a0electricity tariffs for residential consumers of electricity.<\/p>\n

Consumers in the non-residential category will also see a 13 percent drop in tariffs.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”hg88yF3MuD3bS28zMJOnYNEkdLwzEfAz”]The high electricity tariffs were a major part of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)\u2019s campaign ahead of the 2016 elections, with many of the party\u2019s communicators claiming that electricity cost more than rent.<\/p>\n

The Akufo-Addo government explained previously that it could not reduce the tariff in the 2017 budget due to moves to stabilize power supply in the country.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta’s budget reading reminded of the hardship Ghanaians endured during the height of the power crisis between 2013 and 2015.<\/p>\n

Following promises<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to reduce electricity tariffs, Mr. Ofori Atta said Akufo-Addo administration has now revised tariff\u00a0setting methodology\u00a0and cost structure for power production.<\/p>\n

He said recommendations are going to be made to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission in this regard, which will bring a little more relief to businesses and domestic users of electricity.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“In 2018, efforts will be geared towards keeping the lights on at affordable rates to consumers, particularly industries and small business through reform and policy interventions over a two-year period. The electricity tariff structure will be realigned with government’s developmental goals of industrial transformation growth and job creation,” the Finance Minister explained.<\/p>\n

There are six customer categories; residential, non-residential, special load tariff\u00a0(low voltage),\u00a0special load tariff\u00a0(medium voltage),\u00a0special load tariff\u00a0(high voltage) and high voltage mines.<\/p>\n

The proposals granted High voltage mines the biggest reprieve with 21 percent. The other categories will see drops around 13 percent if the proposals are considered.<\/p>\n

Scrapping of 4-tier tariff system<\/strong><\/p>\n

In providing relief to the poor, who consume within the lifeline subsidies, but are likely to be living in compound houses, thus robbing of them such benefits, the current 4-tier tariff classification\u00a0for residential consumers “will be collapsed into lifeline and non-lifeline consumers in phases,” Mr. Ofori Atta said.<\/p>\n

Lifeline users currently pay 33.56 pesewas per kilowatt hour in addition to the 633.17 pesewas service charge monthly.<\/p>\n

Initial skepticism\u00a0from NDC<\/b><\/p>\n

Members of the Minority in Parliament were however skeptical of the government\u2019s pledge to reduce electricity tariffs in the budget.<\/p>\n

According to the Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy, Adams Mutawakilu, the expectation of gas coming on stream to power thermal plants as a means of driving down electricity cost for the ordinary Ghanaian would not materialize.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

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

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has proposed an average\u00a0reduction of 13 percent in\u00a0electricity tariffs for residential consumers of electricity. Consumers in the non-residential category will also see a 13 percent drop in tariffs. [contextly_sidebar id=”hg88yF3MuD3bS28zMJOnYNEkdLwzEfAz”]The high electricity tariffs were a major part of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)\u2019s campaign ahead of the 2016 elections, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,11655,10,11],"tags":[11511,11646,3,4590],"class_list":["post-373887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-ghbudget-2018","category-slider-1","category-top-stories","tag-2018-budget","tag-electricity-tarrifs","tag-ghana-news","tag-ghbudget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373887","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=373887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=373887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=373887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=373887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}