We must deal with rot to improve the power system – Tekper

The Minister of Finance, Seth Tekper, has said government’s efforts to arrest the current energy crisis will be worthless if it does not deal with the rot in the system.

“..If we produce power from our own gas and we don’t pay the bills for it, we cannot do more investment –and this explains why the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is moving towards the prepaid metre regime,” he told participants at a Public Lecture at the University of Ghana Business School.

He said illegal connections by unscrupulous persons in the system have dire implications for the ECG as the prevailing challenge also explains why there are issues of under-investment in the power sector.

Meanwhile, Terpker has attributed the delay in the arrival of the power badges from Turkey to the ballooning public debt.

He says conditions surrounding the guarantee for the badges had to change in line with current trends in the economy.

Mr. Terkper was optimistic that the badges will arrive soon but could not give specific timelines.