Tariff cuts won't bring dumsor – PURC

Ishmael Agyekumhene, Chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) Technical Committee, has dispelled assertions that the reduction in electricity tariffs could create problems for power producers and result in erratic power supply popularly known as ‘dumsor’.

According to him, at the moment, Ghana has 2,800mw of power reserved, and, so, the country will not experience ‘dumsor’.

Beginning 1 April, electricity consumers both residential and commercial, are expected to enjoy between 10% and 30% reduction.

The PURC, which announced the reduction early this month, said residential customers will now enjoy 17.5% reduction, whilst non-residential customers will enjoy 30% reduction.

The mines are also entitled to 10% reduction, with special load tariff customers also enjoying 25% reduction.

But the Minority spokesperson on Energy Adam Mutawakilu has said Ghanaians are likely to experience erratic power supply and general operational challenges due to the reduction in tariffs.

“In their statement, they indicated that the capacity for AMERI has been reduced but when you asked them whether they had renegotiated the AMERI agreement, they wouldn’t respond; they said transmission losses had been reduced from 4 per cent to 3.8 per cent and when you asked how they did that they won’t respond,” Mutawakilu told Joy FM.

But responding to this claim on Ghana Yensom hosted by Chief Jerry Forson on Accra100.5FM on Friday, 16 March, Mr Agyekumhene, who is also the Executive Director for the Kumasi Institute of Technology & Environment (KITE), said: “Let us ask ourselves what caused the dumsor. The dumsor was because of generational problems, our generational capacity did not meet the demands of consumers hence the rationing.

“But as we speak, today we are even struggling to find use for some of the plants because installed capacity is over 5000mw. Current peak demand is around 2200mw, this is more than 50 per cent reserved margin. We have signed several contracts on how to dispatch some of the plants that we don’t need at the moment.

“And so what will be the cause of dumsor again? Now we have enough capacity and we are even struggling to figure out what to do with some of them.”