The Majority Leader in Parliament, Hon.
Mahama Ayariga, has thrown his weight behind the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission's (PURC) decision to implement a 2.45% increase in electricity tariffs, warning that failure to do so could push the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to the brink of collapse.
Addressing Parliament on Friday, June 27, Ayariga described the tariff adjustment as a necessary step in tackling the ballooning debt at ECG, which has been worsened by a year-long freeze on tariff reviews. "Last year, there was an effort made to prevent the PURC from adjusting the tariff; due to that, there was no adjustment for the whole period.
ECG is accumulating huge debt, and it has to be paid for. "If we do not adjust the tariff to enable ECG to pay, ECG will collapse," he cautioned."They won't be able to buy the input needed to keep the generators on, and we are going to have power outages." Ayariga emphasized that improving the economy alone was not enough to erase ECG's financial woes, insisting that consumers must share in the responsibility of sustaining the power sector. "The bill has to be paid.
