he three-month power curtailment program undertaken by the VRA in 1994 brought to the fore the concerns of many Ghanaians about the utility's ability to ensure the long-term availability of electricity. At the same time, it seemed to help customers better understand the reasons behind the curtailment. Television and radio programs, newspaper and magazine articles, public discussions and debates, all highlighted the need for Ghanaians to conserve energy. This provided the VRA with a good opportunity to intensify its energy demand management program which seeks to encourage customers to use electricity efficiently.
In December 1994, Dr. Tom Ansah, a Principal Engineer of the Authority, announced plans to purchase 200,000 energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps at a cost of $2 million for sale to residential customers in about 20,000 households in the Airport and Achimota areas of Accra. Peak demand in these areas is particularly high. Under the program, each household will be supplied up to 10 energy-efficient lamps in exchange for 60 W and 100 W incandescent lamps which will be destroyed. VRA will replace any compact lamp that burns out in less than 500 hours of usage. After complete replacement of 200,000 incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps, the system peak demand is expected to reduce by 9.8 MW, giving an annual energy saving of 11.4 GWh. If the program is successful, it will be extended to other parts of Accra and other regions in Ghana.
According to Dr. Ansah, payments for these lamps, which may range in cost from $6 to $10 each, will be made in installments over a two-year period. To facilitate easy recovery, the amount to be paid each month will be included in the customer's electricity bill along with an indication of the energy saved. As an incentive to encourage customers to buy and use the compact lamps, the deductions will be less than the monetary value of the energy savings made from using the lamps.
Dr. Ansah, who is coordinating VRA's demand management program, notes that electricity is not used efficiently in Ghana. Surveys conducted in Accra and Kumasi show that there is much waste in lighting in the residential and commercial sectors. The predominant portion of energy consumption in these sectors is for lighting with a smaller fraction for air conditioning and refrigeration. In spite of an energy campaign launched by VRA, security lights remained lit during the day in most houses. In addition, Dr. Ansah points out, even though the load curtailment program was extended to 24 hours on August 4, 1994, the total energy demand in Ghana in the third quarter of 1994 was 7% higher than demand in the third quarter of 1993.
"Why should consumers increase energy demand when the Akosombo reservoir was at the brink of failure and an energy conservation campaign had been promulgated throughout the country to increase public awareness on the efficient use of electricity?" he asks.
One reason may be that the load curtailment was not rigorous enough. "It is obvious that urging people to voluntarily conserve energy would not achieve considerable reduction in demand," Dr. Ansah observes. He is also of the opinion that the increase in energy demand at a time when the need for conservation was strong underlines the need for an upward review of the existing electricity tariff structure. It is only when customers pay for the actual economic cost of producing electricity, he notes, that the conservation message will get through to them.
Dr. Ansah, a passionate advocate of conservation, believes that there are very pragmatic reasons for instituting demand management. "Conservation," he says, "can delay the need for new capacity which in turn delays tariff increases." Perhaps the new electricity tariffs recently approved by Ghana's parliament will encourage customers to appreciate the fact that it makes good sense to conserve electricity.