'50% rebate will still make you worse off' - John Jinapor on electricity cost cut

A former Deputy Minister of Power under the erstwhile Mahama administration, John Abdulai Jinapor has admonished Ghanaians not to see the 50% electricity cost reduction as a free-for-all-usage since there is a category and a condition attached to the package

According to him irrespective of the 50% rebate, consumers could pay more than they used to pay before the lockdown.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his late-night update on measures taken against the spread of Coronavirus, announced on Thursday that “government will fully absorb electricity bills for the poorest of the poor, i.e. for all lifeline consumers, that is free electricity for persons who consume zero to 50 kilowatt-hours a month for this period. In addition, for all other consumers, residential and commercial, Government will absorb, again, fifty per cent of your electricity bill for this period, using your March 2020 bill as your benchmark.”

Akufo-Addo explained: “if your electricity bill was GH¢100, you will pay only GH¢50, with government absorbing the remaining GH¢50. This is being done to support industry, enterprises and the service sector in these difficult times, and to provide some relief to households for lost income.’

Shortly after the announcement, the Yapei Kusawgu MP, took to his Facebook timeline and explained: “The lifeline Net Charge for Electricity consumers (50kwh) is [GH]¢19.26 a month.

“By spending more time at home during the lockdown, a doubling of consumption, that is say, 100[KWh], will push a consumer to ¢58.93,” John Abdulai Jinapor added.

Read John Abdulai Jinapor’s full post below.





Rejoinder: An earlier title of this story was not the true reflection of the statement of John Jinapor which was posted on Facebook. It has been changed and we sincerely apologise for the misrepresentation.