Accra, Feb 22, GNA - Mr. Emmanuel Buah, Deputy Minister of Energy, said that eligibility criterion considered by Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for the acquisition of separate meter was a major barrier that prospective applicants faced.

He said the unwillingness of some house owner to endorse application forms for separate meters was a social issue that needed to be addressed quickly.

Mr. Buah, who was answering questions on electricity in Parliament, on Tuesday mentioned consumption threshold of the least 300 units kilowatt-hour per month for the parent meter, full settlement of outstanding debt on the parent meter if any, separation of the wiring in the compound house by the prospective applicants as some of the criterion.

He said following the lowering of the electricity consumption threshold from 400 units to 300 units, ECG had commnenced the purchase of more meters than its normal yearly requirement. Mr. Buah said the ECG intended to intensify public education on the new policy of providing additional meters for compound houses, through the print media.

He said Volta River Authority (VRA) had since the 1960's supplied power to the Gold Mining Corporation and its successor companies as bulk supply customers.

Mr. Buah said that the companies have been responsible for the payment of energy consumed by the mines and the entire Prestea Township . He noted that arrangement for power supply to Prestea had always been between the VRA and the mining companies, and the distribution of power within the township had been governed by the arrangement between the corporation or its successors and the Presteas Township . Mr. Buah said that following the divestiture of the mines, the new owners, New Century Mines, indicated its intention to suspend the existing power supply arrangements under which the mines paid for the energy consumed by the communities.

He said that subsequently, VRA was asked to separate the power supplied to the mine site from that of the communities. Currently the new company pay for only power that it consumes, leaving that of the communities to be paid by the consumers.

Mr Buah said that information relating to funds accrued from the Prestea Urban Electrification programme was not available at the Ministry of Energy.