Mahama promises reduction in electricity tariffs

President John Dramani Mahama says starting July 1, 2016, Ghanaians will heave a sigh of relief when the current electricity tariff is adjusted.

He asked Ghanaians to exercise some patience saying “Because the electricity bill is done on monthly cycles, they have to start on the first of the month with a new billing cycle.”

President Mahama disclosed this to scores of party faithful when he visited Madina, a suburb of Accra as part of his “Accounting to the people” tour of the Greater Accra Region.

He had to cut the tour short following the death of his mother on June 14, but had to resume it Tuesday, June 21.

Mahama’s promise came barely an hour after residents of Nungua, Teshie and La hit the street demonstrating over what they described as “Killer Mahama tariffs.” They claimed their electricity bills are more expensive than their rent.

Ghanaians are very cross with current tariff regime which they say is contributing to the general hardship in the country.

Speaking to the residents, the President stated the government is not insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians, especially public brouhaha about electricity tariffs, adding “We will do our best to give them some relief.”

He blamed the increment in the electricity tariffs to the low level of the water in the hydro dams, noting “hydro is the cheapest source of power, and now all the power we are producing is either with gas or crude oil, and these are more expensive than hydro.”

He averred government will re-adjust the tariffs after it has put in place a cheaper hydro power to reflect the cheaper power.

On the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the President said he has given the management of the company the opportunity to implement their own solutions to change the current billing regime.

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