|
Ngeleja: Poor use of resources pushing up power tariffs
2008-04-22 10:39:49
By Lydia Shekighenda, Dodoma
The government yesterday attributed hiked power tariffs to poor utilisation of the country`s natural resources.
Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja said this in the House when responding to a question by Hassan Ngwilizi (Mlalo, CCM) who had wanted to know why power charges kept increasing while the country had natural resources which could be harnessed for the generation of power, such as Mnazi Bay, Songo Songo, Mtera and Kidatu.
Ngeleja said currently power generated from water sources was 555 megawatts whilst 4,700 megawatts could be generated if all water sources were effectively utilised.
The power generated from Songo Songo gas was 328 megawatts, although it had the capacity of producing 437 megawatts, while Artumas gas generated 12 megawatts instead of 400MW, he said.
He said low investment in the country`s power-generating sources and increase in the demand for electricity had forced the tariffs up.
``It is obvious that if these natural sources were effectively utilised, electricity charges could be low,`` he said.
Ngeleja said Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) had maintained low charges for a long time for the benefit of the people since power was being generated from the country`s natural resources.
``Until the end of last year the estimated charge for electricity was 164/- per unit while the customers paid 96/- per unit, meaning that Tanesco was losing 68/- on each unit consumed,`` Ngeleja said.
The loss incurred by Tanesco due to low charges between 2004 and 2007 was estimated at 189bn/- each year, informed the minister.
Ngeleja explained that in past years the company had been given subsidies to compensate for the loss, but the funding was cut off during this fiscal year.
|
