Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Benjamin Boakye, has urged the Electricity Company of Ghana not to rely on tariffs to solve its problems.
“The fact of the matter is that the tariff is not a silver bullet. We have to tackle all the problems in the value chain to be able to get that optimal tariff that can be used to improve the system,” he said on The Big Issue on Saturday, May 14, 2022.
Mr. Boakye further expressed concern that the managers of the power sector were “operating in silos”.
“ECG wants to be independent and push all that it can on the tariff; the same with VRA and the same with GRIDCo and the rest of them.”
Instead of focusing on tariffs, Mr. Boakye suggested a systematic approach to addressing the various challenges in the sector.
“You need to get the system thinking, working and begin to examine all the weaknesses of the system, prioritise your problem and show us what is possible in the short, medium and long term so that we are not dropping everything in a basket and hoping the tariff can address them.”
Currently, the Electricity Company of Ghana has proposed that its tariffs be increased by 148% for 2022 and with 7.6% average adjustments between the periods of 2023 to 2026.
The proposed sharp increment, according to ECG, is due to the gap between the actual cost recovery tariff and PURC-approved tariffs as well as the cost of completed projects.