Used fridge sellers warned

Alfred Ahenkorah, Executive Secretary of Energy Commission (EC), has stated that a taskforce will soon be deployed to seize all second-hand fridges on the local market.

He therefore cautioned those who were selling the used imported refrigerators to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Mr. Ahenkorah, who made this known at the launch of Prolux and Esnada refrigerators in Accra recently, urged the public to stop purchasing used refrigerators, stating that “it cost a lot of money to maintain those fridges and their electrical consumption too is very high.”

He said the Commission would continue to collaborate with the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and other enforcement agencies to seize used fridges at the country’s ports.

Sherry Ayitey, Minister for Fisheries, said the enforcement of the ban on the importation of used refrigerators was based on certain indisputable facts.

The Minister said the majority of the refrigerators had been discarded in their countries of origin.

Ms Ayitey said the imported used refrigerators were manufactured for the temperate climate and therefore unsuitable for customers in the tropics.

“Worse still, the used imported fridges consume a lot of electricity and therefore the passage of the legislation, a scientific study conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in collaboration with the Energy Commission in 2006, did established that the used refrigerators consume on the average, 1,200KWh a year, which is about three times the maximum consumption levels allowed in countries with robust standards and labeling programmes,” she stated.

Ms Ayitey said since the enforcement of the ban, the importation of new refrigerating appliances outstripped that of used refrigerators in 2013, stating that between 2011 and 2013 importation of new refrigerators increased by 12 percent.

She urged the dealers to stop selling used refrigerators.