Wa, April 26, GNA - Alhaji Issahaku Salia, the Upper West Regional Minister, has identified inadequate number of sales and payment services points as one of the difficulties faced by customers of the Volta River Authority (VRA) in the Wa Municipality. He said the way people, especially pre-paid customers, queue at the few centres to pay or buy power, encouraged people to engage in illegal connections which subsequently led to the loss in revenue to the VRA.

Alhaji Salia who made the call during the launch of the VRA Golden Jubilee Open Day Celebrations on Tuesday, called on the VRA to open more service centres.

He also noted that there was a misunderstanding of how the pre-paid meters worked, and many people felt cheated. Alhaji Salia urged the management of VRA to help address the misconception by carrying out more consumer education campaigns to help the consuming public to understand how VRA works. He asked consumers to understand that power generation was very expensive and that the lifeline of VRA was the revenue it generated. He advised those who had the habit of stealing from the system to desist from the practice or be prepared to face the law when caught. Alhaji Salia said Ghana's discovery of gas offshore, the completion of the West African Gas Pipeline coupled with the deregulation of the energy sector had undoubtedly injected competition into energy production.

He said he was confident that VRA would rise up to the challenge to reposition itself to power Ghana to the status of a developed state.

Alhaji Salia said the government had given its approval for VRA to source funding through United Nations Kyoto Agreement for the development of renewable energy particularly solar and wind. He appealed to VRA to consider the Upper West Region as the preferred destination for solar energy as the region was blessed with adequate sunshine. Alhaji Salia urged the management of VRA to use the Golden Jubilee celebrations to reflect on their successes and challenges and chart a way forward towards producing sustainable energy that would bring in more revenue.