The Volta River Authority (VRA), the energy generation body of Ghana, has hinted that the erratic power supply, popularly referred to as dum so dum so will not end anytime soon.
“In fact, going forward there will be more ‘dum so dum so’ than ever if we don’t pay the right tariffs and invest into our power future,” Samuel Kwesi Fletcher, the Head of Corporate Communications at VRA, told TV3’s Sandra Amarquaye in an interview on Friday, October 11, 2013.
He said the recent 78.9 per cent increase in electricity tariff will see only 36 per cent reaching the Authority.
He explained that VRA spends more than it gets from government.
“Our revenue is about GH¢900,” he said, “so there is a big gap. So the tariff is actually supporting about 50 – 60 percent of [VRA’s] cost of operation.”
He told TV3’s reporter that the Authority requested 128 per cent in tariff increment “but [we] only got a quarter of it”.
“For two years, almost three years, we haven’t received any tariff increases,” he noted.
As a result, he intimated, it will be difficult for VRA to provide efficient services.
Mr Fletcher mentioned that the only way out is for Ghanaians to embrace energy conservation.
“If we use power wisely it will save us.”
Source: GhanaWeb
