Customer population outweighs VRA staff

Tamale, May 9, GNA - The customer population of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Northern Electricity Department (NEDCo) has grown from 18,000 to over 380,000, putting a strain on the staff in its service delivery.

This represents a massive 2000 per cent rise, while the staff strength of the two organizations has barely grown from 450 in 1987 to 900 as at present.

Mr John Nuworklo, Managing Director of NDECo disclosed this at the launch of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company as a limited liability company and the inauguration of the board members of the company in Tamale on Tuesday.

The board members include Mr John Nuworklo, Managing Director, NEDCo, Alhaji Attah Mahamadu, representative of VRA, Mr William Hutton-Mensah, Managing Director of ECG and Dr Sulley Gariba, a development consultant.

Mr Nuworklo noted that the bulk of VRA/NEDCo's customers were residential and “Subsidised”, often referred to as lifeline customers.

He said VRA/NEDCo's operations covered over 60 per cent of the land mass of Ghana, adding that VRA also supplied power to Dapaong in Togo, as well as the towns of Po, Leo and Yuoga in Burkina Faso.

Mr Nurworkoli however said the vision of VRA of becoming a leading electricity distribution service provider in the country and the sub-region had been burdened by many challenges.

He mentioned some of the challenges as the dispersed distribution network with higher than normal operational and maintaince cost and inadequate funding for infrastructural development.

He, however, assured customers that despite these constrain VRA would improve upon its service delivery.

Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Deputy Minister of Energy said the operationalisation of NDECo was part of the power sector reforms which started in the 1990s.

He said the establishment of NEDCo was to make it economically viable and sustainable by attracting additional resources from internal and external sources to supplement VRAs on-going support for NEDCo's operations.

He said it was also to empower NEDCo to manage its own affairs more effectively.

Proffessor Akilagpa Sawyerr, Board Chairman of VRA assured the staff of NEDCo that their conditions of service would be improved but however stressed the need for them to inject new ideas and thinking to improve upon their service delivery.

GNA