President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his last televised address to the nation announced some relief packages to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on Ghanaian households and businesses.
Among the relief packages was the absorption of electricity and water bills by his government.
President Akufo-Addo stated that the government will be absorbing the entire electricity bills of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) lifeline consumers and 50 per cent of those of non-lifeline consumers.
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Since the president’s announcement, Ghanaians have questioned what exactly it means to be classified as a lifeline consumer.
Speaking in a press briefing held by the Information Ministry on Thursday, Minister for Energy, John Peter Amewu, explained to the media what it means to be classified as a lifeline consumer.
According to the Minister, a Ghanaian who consumes between 0 to 50 Kilowatts of energy daily is classified as a lifeline consumer.
Ghanaians who consume electricity between 0 to 50 KW, that is those who have two lighting bulb points, a table top fridge and a fan for a limited number of hours on a daily basis can be considered as a lifeline consumer, he said.
The cost to government for absorbing the electricity bills of lifeline consumers of ECG, who cover over 1 million metres population and form 27.4 per cent of ECG’s entire customer base, will be GH¢ 8.5 million a month and a total GH¢ 25.5 million for the three months, he further stated.
In all, Mr Amewu stated that, the government will be spending a cumulative GH¢ 1 billion in absorbing the electricity bills of ECG customer population base of about 4.8 million metres across the country for the three months.