Former Volta River Authority boss, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby has said it is time for government to create a single national power authority to manage the country's power sector. He was speaking during the inaugural lectures of the Ghana Institute for Public Policy Options (GIPPO) in Accra last Thursday. The energy expert identified four underlying causes of the country's energy crisis namely "darkness of knowledge, darkness of policy, darkness of operation and darkness of oversight". Electricity generation is undertaken by the state- owned Volta River Authority (VRA), which operates the Akosombo Hydro Power Station, Kpong Hydro Power Station and the Takoradi Thermal Power Plant Company (TAPCO) at Aboadze. VRA is also a minority joint partner with TAQA, a private sector company which owns and operates the Takoradi International Power Company (TICO) thermal power plant also located at Aboadze. Bui Power Authority (BPA), another state-owned entity, is charged with the implementation of the Bui Hydro electric Power Project. In addition, Independent Power Producers (IPP) have been licensed to build, own and operate power plants. The IPP projects are at various stages of development. Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO), a state-owned company owns and operates the National Interconnected Transmission System (NITS) for electricity. The distribution of electricity is done by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), a state-owned company, and the Northern Electricity Department (NED), a subsidiary of the Volta River Authority(VRA). The Energy Commission (EC) and the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) regulate the electricity supply industry. The Energy Commission,which is responsible for technical regulations in the power sector, also advises the Minister for Energy on matters relating to energy planning and policy. Despite, the multiplicity of energy institutions, Ghana has been facing a cyclical energy crisis for over 30 years . The latest which began in the last quarter of 2012, causing huge public fury after government defied all deadlines to end it. Comparing South Africa to Ghana, Dr. Wireko-Brobbey said with one national power authority, South Africa performs significantly better than Ghana which has six institutions manning various sections in the energy sector. He advised government that lumping all these institutions together will help streamline their operations and curtail the constant blame game among them, a nagging feature that characterizes each crisis. "If government does merge these power institutions,such a merger will not be new", he emphasised Butressing his point for efficiency, the energy expert cited the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), which is a merger of three giant tax institutions.The GRA replaces the revenue agencies in the administration of taxes and customs duties in the country. In December 2009, the three tax revenue agencies, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Value Added Tax Service (VATS) and the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) Secretariat were merged in accordance with Ghana Revenue Authority Act 2009, Act 791.