The intensified power challenges facing the country has once again given rise to the debate on the need for consumers to pay what electricity generating companies describe as the right tariffs.
The latest independent power producer in Ghana, Cenpower Generation Company Limited is of the view that Ghanaians should agree to pay realistic tariffs to guarantee the regular supply of power.
With the worsening power situation in the country, government has opened up the sector to allow private sector participation in power generation.
It is also deregulating the sector to give way to the automatic adjustment formula to be used in calculating how much consumers should pay for utilities.
Power-generating companies in the country have argued that operational cost can be reduced if some of the burden is shifted onto the consumer.
At the sod-cutting ceremony at Kpone for the company to add some 350 megawatts of power to the national grid, the CEO, Theo Sackey, told Citi Business News payment of right tariffs will help government rake in the needed revenue to support the operations of the sector.
“We should pay the appropriate price for energy and it’s not rocket science. Whenever you price a product at a cost which is lower than how much it costs to produce it, what happens is that people use more than what they need by wasting it, and also what happens is that those who have to produce it are not in a sustainable position to continue production.”
The CEO of Cenpower Generation Company Limited said the cost of production must be covered at all cost to keep the investors still in business.
“Generation companies cannot recover their cost if the price of power is low and it can result in what you call dumsor dumsor because there will be shortages. Unless we pay the right amount, it’s not sustainable,” he added.
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