The External Relations Officer with the Electricity Company Ghana (ECG), Laila Abubakar, says ECG has not yet implemented the 15 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on power consumed by customers above lifeline levels.
Although the Ministry of Finance explains the levy forms part of the country’s COVID recovery and must take effect from January, the ECG says it is yet to effect changes.
Read also: https://www.myjoyonline.com/government-charging-vat-on-electricity-from-january-1/
She mentioned that, in anticipation of the rollout of VAT on electricity, ECG is engaged in discussions with the Ministry of Finance, Ghana Revenue Authority, and other relevant stakeholders to comprehend the specifics of the tax implementation.
“The VAT announcement that came into effect in January has abhorred a lot of our customers, the truth is that we [ECG] haven’t started implementing it even though the letter says it should have been activated in January,” she said.
Amid increasing demands from the Minority and energy experts for the repeal of a Value Added Tax imposed on specific categories of residential electricity consumers, this development has emerged.
Former president John Mahama joined in the calls arguing that the move will only pile up the cost of electricity, which has seen a 29 percent increase.
Mr Mahama noted that the increase in the electricity bill will make the cost of doing business in Ghana unbearable.
“Today, they’ve put Value Added Tax on electricity bills and Covid levy, GETFund levy, NHIS levy on electricity bill and so that is going to send the cost of your electricity up.
“Already, there was a 29% and 19% increase then they tried to fool us with a 4% decrease and now it is going up again astronomically making Ghana a very difficult place to do business,” he lamented.
Meanwhile, the Electricity Company of Ghana says it is actively addressing all issues accounting for intermittent power supply across the country.
Ghanaians in recent times have called for the publication of a new loading-shedding table to enable consumers of power to properly plan for the continued power supply.
While there are fears of a return to the dark days of power cuts known as Dumsor, the nationwide energy distributor says any power disruptions experienced could be a local fault.
According to the External Relations Officer with the ECG, “some of the generators had their plants go off because we were maintaining them and then obviously there were issues internally with regards to payment of some of the generators.
“So there were unforeseen events that led to power outages. However, all these issues have been resolved to the barest minimum.”
She added that ECG is still in negotiations with the power generators to maintain a seamless power supply.
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