Chairman of Parliament’s Energy Committee, Emmanuel Bedzrah, says government must support the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to recover its costs.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on September 9, he argued that consumers alone cannot be made to bear the burden of ECG’s request for a 225 per cent increase in its Distribution Service Charge.

“Do we have the purchasing power for consumers to pay for it? But the conversation should also move from there to find out whether we want these utilities to be a social good or private good, and I believe he will come there, and then we’ll discuss it.”

He explained that if ECG is treated as a private good, then the company can pass on costs as it pleases.

But if it is considered a social good, then government must step in.

“If it is a private good, then ECG can go ahead and do whatever they want to do, but if it’s a social good, the government must support ECG to recover the cost, because one of the factors that I saw was the full cost recovery of other debts.

"Why do you pass on this debt to consumers. And so for me, I believe that if we don’t want to move the conversation to full cost recovery, which will become an automatically private good, then we should be looking at it.”

When pressed by host Evans Mensah if he was suggesting government should absorb the cost, he responded: “And if yes, government should absorb some of the cost.

"And if government is going to absorb some of the cost, then we should also look at the mismanagement of ECG as well.”

His comments come at a time when ECG is defending its proposed tariff hike as vital to prevent collapse and ensure a reliable power supply.

The call adds to the wider debate on whether essential utilities like electricity and water should be treated as commercial services or as social goods requiring government support.