PURC suggests tariff reductions, as ECG loses bulk power consumers to IPPs

The Director Regional Operations at the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, Alhaji Abukari Jabaru wants the Electricity Company of Ghana to consider engaging the PURC to reduce tariffs for bulk consumers of electricity.

Alhaji Jabaru who spoke Skyy News on the sidelines of the ”Post Tariffs Stakeholder Engagement in Respect of the 2019/2020 Major Tariff Decision, said the ECG had lost some customers inthe deregulated markets to Independent Power Producers.

”We are pricing electricity to a level where someday, people will have to find alternatives or will say they cannot pay for what ECG provides. So we are looking forward to the day the Utility Service Providers will ask us at PURC to reduce tariffs for them. We have realized that a category of customers in the deregulated markets; bulk customers, they can go for any supplier and have started taking those options”.

He further stated that the ECG would have to consider voluntarily asking the PURC to reduce tariffs so it can satisfy it’s customers.

”As a result of this, ECG is losing customers to some independent power providers who are generating at a very low cost. This is a bit surprising because if you look at the wheeling charge they have to pay, it appears their providers are giving them cheaper rates than ECG who on the scale of volume should have less production cost. So we are expecting that the utilities will voluntarily come to us to ask us to reduce the tariffs so that they can make their consumers happy”.