THE importance of electricity to the world has never been in doubt. It has a hand in the creation, production, transportation and delivery of all the things we use in our everyday life.
The water we drink and use to wash, the toothpaste in the tube and the brush we apply it with and the soap in the dish or dispenser are all ours because electricity helps make them and get them to us.
Indeed, without electricity, we cannot do anything. We cannot use microwaves and fridges; we cannot get access to the Internet; or even shower. We can go on and on and on, but suffice it to say that without electricity, life will be horrible; it will be pure hell.
It is against this background that the news that Ghanaians would have to make do with the erratic electricity supply being experienced in parts of the country for the next 12 to 18 months has come as a huge surprise to everybody.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) says the current erratic power supply is the result of faults. It says during the period, it will replace cables, upgrade its systems and also replace faulty cables.
The sad part of it all is that the ECG says it is unable to announce the power cuts in advance because they are not planned. According to its Director of Operations, Mr Tetteh Okine, “The company has lost up to 85 megawatts of electricity as a result of the faults. So when the load goes high, we have to drop people off and this is not planned so it is difficult to announce it.”
But the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) is not amused by the explanation being thrown out by the ECG.
For the chamber, what is worrying is the fact that the intermittent power cuts would impact negatively on the economy and so the ECG must be up and doing to fix the problem, period.
It said what was more worrying was the fact that most businesses were computerised and the erratic power supply would not only destroy equipment but vital installations as well, not to mention the disastrous effect on small and medium-scale entrepreneurs such as barbers, hairdressers, tailors, seamstresses and dealers in sachet water.
For its part, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), in a seven-point proposal to the utility companies, said the traditional tariff increases had outlived their usefulness as a solution to the challenges facing the utility providers and asked for a multi-faceted alternative solution to energy generation, supply and distribution, as well as infrastructure expansion and financing.
The Daily Graphic shares the position of the AGI and also welcomes its suggestion that the government must make it a priority to redeem its huge outstanding public utility bills, stressing that the move would go a long way to offset the cash flow problems currently being experienced by the utility providers.
Of course, we are not unaware of the recent decision of the government to get the ECG to fix prepaid meters at all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). This, no doubt, will be beneficial to the ECG in the near future, but for now, its greatest concern is the lack of capital, thereby allowing inefficiencies to creep into its operations.
We also hope the ECG will heed the directive by the President that utility companies should notify consumers before their services are disrupted in order to reduce the pain of disrupted services on their customers.
Again, the Daily Graphic shares the view of the AGI that the respective boards and management of the utility providers must endeavour to unearth all cases of illegal power connections which are rife in the country and allegedly carried out with the active connivance of some corrupt company officials.
We are aware that the ECG has been up and doing in recent times and we doff our hats for its efforts. We only hope that this will not be a nine days’ wonder in the effort to purge the company of some of the glaring inefficiencies in its service delivery.
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