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The Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has revealed the impact of weather conditions and seasonality on electricity sales and revenue.
According to him, ECG loses about GH¢25 million whenever it rains in any part of the country since consumption tends to decrease when the weather is cold.
Mr Mahama made this revelation while discussing the topic “The Big Power Debate: The High Cost of Keeping the Lights On” on JoyNews’ PM Express.
“Before the rainy season set in, ECG was averaging between GH¢40 to GH¢50 million a day. Now any day that you see rain, note that we’re down by GH¢25 million,” he told host Evans Mensah on Monday.
Noting that the country has been experiencing a rainy season for an extended period this year, Mr Mahama said he becomes sad whenever he sees the rain.
“We plan all-year round with the same tariff. In certain parts of the world the tariff is not flat. When its cold, it varies from when it is hot and they find a way to balance it out. But we have a tariff that runs all year without considering the down periods.
“So clearly consumption will be less during these periods and definitely revenue collected will not be adequate enough to cover the shortfalls.
It is about how people live, and how buildings are constructed. With most people, they are comfortable with just the fresh air, they are fine and they are not going to consume a lot because everybody is actually on the path on conservation.”
The Managing Director also discussed the operational challenges brought on by rainy weather.
He divulged that rain hampers the collection of revenue, as meter reading and other operational activities become difficult.
However, he reassured that despite these challenges, ECG will eventually collect the owed amounts from customers.
“The truth of the matter is whatever is consumed I’ll still collect it along the line, but that particular day that it has rained, I may be unable to collect monies owed me by customers.”
In recent times, Ghanaians have experienced some power cuts, with the recent one blamed on limited gas to power plants in Tema and Takoradi.
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), which receives gas from the West African Gas Pipeline Company for onward supply to the power plants, has absolved itself of blame, accusing ECG for failing to pay its debt to settle the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company for the supply of gas.
