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Spokesperson for the Energy Ministry, Edward Bawa has commended government for reducing electricity tariffs.

Government has agreed to reduce electricity tariffs by 45 and 50 per cents for lifeline consumers and the vulnerable in the society.

"The relief will translate into the following rates: 0-50 = 45% 51-300= 50% This means all consumers between the 0-50 band will have a 45% reduction in their electricity tariff while the 51-300 band will have 50% reduction. Tariffs for all other consumption bands remain unchanged," a report disclosed.

Speaking on Peace FM's 'kokrokoo' regarding the government's intervention, Edward Bawa who also doubles as a Parliamentary candidate for the Bongo constituency noted that the reduction will hugely relieve the less-privileged electricity consumers from having to bear huge cost.

He noted that the announcement of new tariff increments served as albatross on the neck of consumers and pumped fear into consumers who do not utilize lots of appliances.

He however explained that though the tariff reduction will incentivize electricity consumers,"this is coming at a huge cost to government’s own budget. This is coming at a huge cost to even government’s fiscal activities she will undertake over the budget year. But government has realized that even within that particular thing, who are the people who suffer most in this particular area in terms of increment?”

He revealed that the energy generators and suppliers' demands for the tariff increment are valid due to the cost in purchasing crude oil to power the thermal plants which generates electricity for supply.

“It was more of an attitudinal thing. We were used to buying power for at low cost anytime there’s an effort to increase. When you take a critical look into the reality confronting us, in terms of the generation mix; we have the thermal components that make a sizeable amount and therefore you must pay for the cost of that particular power, then you see people resisting. And so, even with this current one, it was resisted. And that explains why for example labour went on the streets. That explains why government said let’s sit with labour and negotiate,” he said.

He therefore advised Ghanaians to "begin to psyche ourselves as a country that to be able to have sustainable reliable source of power, we must pay for it. Somebody has to pay for it. And if somebody has to pay for it, we must make a decision. Should it be government? Should it be us? If it is government, is it sustainable? If it’s us, is it sustainable? These are the fundamental questions we must ask ourselves. And in my opinion and working in that particular sector for about 5-6 years, I think that (look) it’s a shared responsibility.”