Coronavirus: Disconnected customers will not benefit from electricity relief – Amewu

Minister of Energy John Peter Amewu, has disclosed that consumers of electricity who due to one reason or the other had their lines disconnected before President Akufo-Addo announced the relief packages for utilities in the wake of the Coronavirus will be exempted from enjoying it.

At a press briefing Thursday morning at the Information Ministry, Mr Amewu hinted that “if by the 9th of April, you are disconnected, then automatically, there is no way you are benefitting.”

“But if for some reason, your disconnection was because… and you have made an attempt to pay that bill, then, of course, you will be entitled to enjoy. Those that have been disconnected will not enjoy until they have been reconnected,” he said.

The Energy Minister also noted that government has projected the expenditure on the absorption of the electricity bills of Ghanaians for the next three months to be 1billion Ghana Cedis; adding that the amount would cover about 87 per cent of the population.

The amount is expected to cover an estimated population of about 4.8 million meters across Ghana.



According to him, the amount would cover the electricity bills of consumers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo).

The Energy Minister explained that life-line consumers as defined by the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC), where people who used only one television set, two lighting bulb points, a table top fridge and a fan for a limited number of hours.

The government would fully absorb the electricity bills for people who consumed zero to 50 kw/h of electricity for the periods of April, May and June.

For residential and commercial users, the government would absorb 50 per cent of the electricity bills using March 2020 as benchmark.

Asked how the figure would impact the electricity providing companies, Mr Amewu responded that “the utilities are already suffering but in the midst of these difficulties for utilities, the human life is very key.”

“We hope as a responsible government, where we have brought this economy to, after this COVID-19, we will be able to bring the economy back,” he added.