Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur says electricity tariffs in Africa are high.

Mr. Amissah-Arthur made the dis­closure on Tuesday while delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremo­ny of the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA) held at the Movenpick Ambas­sador Hotel in Accra.

The meeting, under the theme: 'Energy Development through Customer Management, Revenue Collection and Energy Efficiency," brought i together the continent's power utility operators to exchange ideas to improve the energy sector across Africa.

The Vice President warned that if tariffs continue to increase, power will be affordable only for the rich, a situa­tion that would significantly restrict development on the continent.

"In many of our countries, there are large segments of the population that cannot afford to pay economic tariff. Their circumstances have to be factored into the tariff regime," he said.

He added that if the circumstances were not considered "power will be a service available only for the wealthy and not for the poor or rural resident which will definitely restrain the devel­opment of our societies," he said.

"There are five important aspects to be addressed. The first is the planning' approach in developing energy sources. This must be comprehensive, embrac­ing thermal, hydro and renewables. We must avoid the adoption of the haphaz­ard, piecemeal approach," he declared.

Slow Growth

According to the Vice President, in most of Africa, energy development has not matched increasing demand.

"I am told that in the last decade, power consumption in Africa increased by three times the rate of capacity growth," he said.

He pointed out that there was an increasing energy gap, whose implica­tion impacts not just economic growth, but also progress in the social sectors such as education, health, tourism among others."

Suggestions

Efficient energy use, he said, must reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services, adding that "in this respect, demand side management is crucial and we must educate and encourage the use of energy-saving building architecture and industrial, commercial and domes­tic devices."

He stated that an ambitious objective of developing an effective, efficient and sustainable power sector can be facilitated through tine exchange of knowledge, experiences and the pool­ing of resources in APUA.

National Outlook

Ghana, he said, has worked to diminish the energy gap, especially in rural communities.

He also touched on some of the successes that the country has chalked over the years.

On the African continent, excluding island nations, Ghana is behind only Gabon and South Africa in terms of energy access, the Vice President said.

According to him, about 80.5 percent of Ghanaians currently have access to electricity.

By 2020, he said, there should be a universal access to electricity in Ghana and called on other African nations to expand their electricity reach.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Volta River Authority (VRA), Ign. Kirk Koffie, in a remark, explained that APUA over the last 50 years has promoted the development and integration of the African power systems through network interconnections, exchange of experiences and knowledge, as well as the pooling of energy in a win-win approach for all.

He said the power sector in Africa was faced with challenges such as low accessibility and insufficient capacity, poor reliability and high tariffs.