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Make electricity a mass commodity
2007-11-13 09:46:31
By Edit
The recent news that Tanesco was about to hike power tariffs by 100 percent was not well-received by consumers. Luckily, the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) has instructed the Tanesco management to shelve the plan until Ewura determines that the proposed rates are reasonable.
There is no need to guess as to why the power consumers are jittery about the proposed price hike. People fear that the ripple effect of the increased tariffs will lead to a higher cost of living.
On the other hand, Tanesco is all out to free itself from both a chronic financial quagmire and donor dependency.
Given this situation, it is very clear as to who has to shoulder the financial responsibility in the long run, and this is none other than the power user, who is already fiscally overstretched.
So where does the solution lie?
The truth is that there is nobody who does not know that Tanesco generates power at great cost, because they incur high costs to bring electricity where we want.
Some of the costs are historical, while others relate to arithmetic of economies of scale.
In that light, when Tanesco says it must charge more for the servicing of its costumers, its cry has a basis.
What, however, is a cause of concern is whether all the costs that we must obviously bear to get electricity to the consumer at affordable price have been thoroughly verified as non-escapable. We need to revisit areas of inefficiency, both within and outside Tanesco, that build a high cost structure and take action on them.
Tanesco should be in the forefront of revisiting all such areas and satisfy itself that it has addressed the inefficiencies that increase costs.
There are things like unnecessary travelling, seminars, workshops and all other unnecessary administrative indulgences.
On its part, the government should also scrutinize other transactions that make Tanesco’s tariffs go up unnecessarily.
We have to reach a point whereby we make sure that electricity becomes a mass consumer item like is the case in other countries, rather than treating power supply as a luxury item, for it is true that for any meaningful development on large scale to be attained, stable and affordable power supply is a very basic requirement.
We all want quality life for all, and electricity is the beginning point for all we aspire. Whether we want urban or rural development speeded up, improved agriculture, industrialization etc, we must assess all options that will make power spread throughout the country as a mass commodity.
This calls for a review of our investment priorities. We should borrow a leaf from developed countries, which reached that level by first investing in electricity and road infrastructure.
Whatever we do, the bottom line is for both the power utility company and the government to shed unnecessary cost centres and any inflatory transactions.
For Tanzania to enter the 21st century of science and technology, affordable power supply should be the key word.
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