Dennis Miracles says the control of electricity in the country should be decentralized.
He stressed that the monopoly of the power sector by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) should be neutralized because ECG having all the authority to supply electricity is not helpful.
The Director of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development at the Presidency referenced practices abroad where water and electricity supply is decentralized to alleviate challenges that may occur and inconvenience the users.
"I think we like centralization too much in Ghana. Everything is centered in one bottle. Maybe I'm saying this because I'm a decentralization person but when you go to other jurisdictions, things like water and electricity, they are decentralized," he stated.
He cited a typical example of the United States saying each State conducts herself differently, particularly with regard to electricity supply, so proposed that this initiative should be adopted in Ghana to ensure there is always an alternative when ECG encounters a problem.
"Imagine if we decentralize it across the country, all sixteen Regions, each one has its own power company limited; if someone wants to attack us and attack our energy sector, the person can't attack all of them at once. But this one, the entire country is shutting down because one person, one company, one board is determining our entire energy; it's strange," he emphasized on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" discussion programme.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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This is a great idea and government must consider this seriously, Dennis. ECG should be divided into three zones to make it more manageable and efficient. In its current form, it is too large for ECG managers, and it is a monopoly with weak credit control, electricity ***barred word*** and corrupt guys mixed with good guys. ECG is broken and must fixed by policy makers as energy cost is rising rapidly for households. Zones underperforming can be taken over by efficient managers with poor performing managers sacked.
I completely agree with you. Not only ECG, add VRA/NEDCO. The power sector should be opened to competition just like the telecos. Ghanaians should have the option as to who to deal with. Believe me if we encourage private sector participation in the power sector, cost of electricity may go down since competition promotes innovation. I wish we had 3 different power companies in Ghana with consumers deciding which of them to join or all of them.