Ghana's Energy Sector Is Back To Life - Energy Minister

Minister for Energy, Hon Peter Amewu, has announced that Government has successfully revived the dying state of the energy sector.

According to the Energy Minister, the current administration met the sector in a very deplorable state with alarming high indebted utilities, high electricity tariffs, poor electricity distribution service and low energy penetration.

Speaking at a Meet the Press Series on the 5th of February 2019, at the Ministry of Information, Hon Peter Amewu stressed that Ghanaians are now enjoying affordable and reliable power due to his Government's relentless efforts in fixing the energy sector.

According to the Minister, his outfit has brought sanity to the power sub sector thus ensuring that Ghana is a promise land as far as energy is concerned.

"I am glad to announce that we reviewed several power purchase agreements saving the country over 700 million dollars every year for thirteen years in excess capacity charges. The reviewed and renegotiated renewable energy PPAs resulted in the reduction of tariffs from the average of 19.057 US Cent to 12.78 US Cents. The renewable energy total capacity also dropped from 2265.1MW to 515.6MW."

Hon Peter Amewu also said that Government have also achieved significant feats in gas commercialization stating that "there have been a significant reduction in gas price from US$ 10.5/MMBtu to US$7.89/MMBtu and have also successfully interconnected the gas export pipeline into Ghana's Atuabo-Takoradi (A-T) to enable the Sankofa gas to be transported through the Natural Gas Transmission System (NGTs) to various customers across the country.”

The Minister also cited Government's effort to ensure fairness, transparency, and predictability in the Oil and Gas sector of the Country.

"His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched the first ever licensing Rounds Bid on Monday 15th October 2018 in accordance with the Petroleum Act of 2016. In February 2018, the Petroleum Commission launched the Petroleum Register which includes petroleum agreements, licenses, permits and authorizations," he stated.

He further noted that Government also directed the motivation of domestic petroleum product price increases.

"Since March 2017 to August 2018, Government has implemented various tax interventions such as the Removal of excise duty on 16th March 2017; 
Reduction of the Special Petroleum Tax rate from 17.5% to 15% on 16th March 2017; 
Reduction of the Special Petroleum Tax rate from 15% to 13% on 16th February 2018;
Conversion of the Special Petroleum Tax from Ad valorem to Specific Tax on 16th February 2018; and
Reduction of the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levies (PSRL) from 1st December 2017."

The Minister also spoke on the safety of Ghanaians saying that Cabinet have directed a number of actions including the immediate commencement of the National Liquified Petroleum Gas(LPG) Promotion Policy based on the Cylinder Recirculating Model (RCM).
 
According to him, this is to ensure that at least 50 percent of Ghanaians have access to safe and environmentally friendly LPG for domestic, commercial and industrial use by 2030.