MDAs owing electricity bills to be disconnected

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has directed that ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) that fail to pay their electricity bills should be disconnected.

Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister of Energy and Petroleum, who gave the directive  in Tamale on Tuesday as part of  a three-day tour of the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions said all MDAs must be connected to  pre-paid meters to ensure that they use energy responsibly.

Mr Buah is on the tour to assess ongoing rural electrification projects and other critical energy development projects being undertaken to increase the energy demand of the country.

He said it is important for the MDAs to find realistic sources to pay electricity bills.

He noted that the north has very low electricity supply hence the need to expand energy supply to the area.

The Minister said demand for electricity had grown steadily to 13 per cent annually and various measures including the adoption of solar energy are being used to address the situation.

Mr Buah said a new initiative is to be launched at Garu in the Upper East Region to promote the use of LPG as alternative source of energy for rural dwellers.

Mr John Nuworkla, Managing Director of Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) said the organisation started its operation in 1997 and became autonomous in May 2012 with a customer base of 500,000.

He said NEDCO is faced with financial, human resource and logistics problems as well as non-payment of bills by state institutions. The company supplies 64 per cent of the energy needs of the country.

Mr Nuworkla said NEDCO has adopted a strategic plan from 2012 to 2017 and needs a colossal amount of 208,719,747 million dollars to retool its aging equipment to reposition the organisation in a better footing to be able to meet customer demands.

The minister toured the site of a rural electrification project at Ligba in the Savelugu/Nanton Municipality being executed by Hunan Construction Engineering Group- Company.

Mr Buah expressed worry that although the project has been completed the community is still in darkness and ordered that the anomaly should be reversed.

Source: GNA