Power Minister: Era of cheap power over

The Power Minister Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has asked power consumers to adopt greater efficiency in energy use in order to contain the increasing cost of power provision.

He said in the current energy generation mix, the contribution of hydro sources – the cheapest source of energy generation is diminishing, which requires consumers to brace themselves for a tariff regime that will reflect the cost of power supply.

“If you look at the generation mix, we are going to have less cheap sources of generation and more of the expensive sources of generation, and this must be reflected in an appropriate tariff. At the moment, this is not yet fairly reflected. So going forward, Ghanaians must develop greater efficiency in energy use.”

He said a household can maintain its present payment obligations by reducing the waste in power use. “So a behavioral change will also help us to minimize power use, and therefore minimize the impact of electricity cost on our lives and also reduce the national aggregate demand,” he said.

Dr. Donkor made these comments in an interview with the BFT.

Last week, the PURC announced a 59.2 percent in electricity tariff to help power companies meet the cost of producing and distributing power – which is largely unavailable in the country due to deficiencies in production.

Dr. Kwabena Donkor said despite the increment in power usage, the amount consumers pay for electricity is far below what it costs to produce power, and it is about time the country charts a new course.

“We have not had a cost-reflective tariff for a while because Akosombo has been dominant in the generation mix, but that has changed drastically.

For example, as at today (Friday) Akosombo is doing about 480MW out of an installed capacity of 1020MW.

“TICO alone is doing 320MW, which is almost close to Akosombo and therefore Akosombo’s role in the generation mix has diminished,” he explained.