Energy Minister charges Ghanaians to pay for energy they consume

The Minister of Energy, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has charged Ghanaians to be responsible citizens, and pay for the electricity they consume.

Speaking at the Minister’s Press Briefing organised by the Information Ministry yesterday in Accra, Dr. Matthew Prempeh lamented that losses recorded by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are badly hurting the company and the state.

“There are technical losses, commercial losses, system losses and collection losses. I mean those who are stealing the meters, those who are by-passing the meters, those whose meters are not working, those who don’t have meters but using electricity, it is costing ECG nearly GHC3.2 billion; in foreign exchange terms, over $400million,” he said.

He queried how viable the ECG can continue to be if it is to lose such huge amount annually, stating that citizens’ inability and unwillingness to pay as well as theft by those who tap into generation system without paying are becoming a drain on government.

“Every Ghanaian must be responsible and pay for the energy he or she consumes, or else you’ll be visited by the Revenue Protection Taskforce,” he cautioned.

Public institution metering

He said, to show government’s commitment to setting examples, the directive that all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to have prepaid meters is still in force.

He admitted, however, that the policy had not been wholly successful because the government or ECG had not found the wherewithal to install prepaid meters everywhere.

“I do know there is a continued improvement in metering to all these government agencies, and it ensures that they pay their bills,” Dr. Matthew Prempeh said.

The Energy Minister further told journalists that among the directives given to the ECG on the non-payment of bills is the disconnection of electricity supply of any MDA.

“One of my charges to ECG on that has been for those who chronically don’t pay their bills; if you’re going to cut them, do it and put a prepaid meter there; give them the light and let them pay,” he said.

“Because, for some, it is just that they don’t want to pay; for others, they have serious challenges with funds to pay. The whole purpose of that is to demonstrate to Ghanaians that you can’t have electricity for free,” the Minister indicated.

Prosecution

Touching on prosecution, Dr. Matthew Prempeh said that even though there is a special court for offenders, and judges have been appointed, the courts are the last resort.

“But, I can assure you that the judicial system has been put in place, and I’ve asked ECG, for those who say ‘we won’t pay’, to go to court to get the power to garnishee and serve them with it,” he said.

“We are going to employ everything available, but my first option is not court and prosecution. My first option is to deny you the service of electricity, so that you come and sit down and arrange payment. ECG is not saying that 100 percent today…Be responsible that you don’t continue to accumulate. The first thing is that you have to demonstrate to them that you’ll pay on time. ‘For the debt, I can pay this amount now and the rest, you have to spread it for me’. We have to be responsible Ghanaians; that is all it is saying,” he added.

Power outages

The Minister also acknowledged the recent power outages in the country, attributing it to the burnt Aboadze switchyard plant. He assured that his outfit was working tirelessly to solve the situation.

He also added that the company is changing some power lines that are outdated, which is also another cause of the recent power outages.

“For some of the lines, we are changing them because they are so outdated. It is true that some parts of the country are experiencing intermittent power outage because of the combination of a number of factors,” he noted, pleading that Ghanaians bear with the ECG.

“We are not going to sleep, but work around the clock to make sure that we sort it out, so that we keep having the lights on,” he assured.

Dr. Matthew Prempeh warned that his outfit would not tolerate attacks on workers of ECG and Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) who are doing their lawful duties.

Officials of the two power distributors have in recent times been subjected to attacks by power consumers in the Eastern and Northern regions.

“The attack on ECG staff or NEDCo staff, the butchering of NEDCo workers, etc, because they are doing their normal duty, is not going to be tolerated,” he warned.