But since pre-paid electricity meters was introduced into the country some few years ago, majority of these SME’s arefolding up or have lay off many of most their employees,because of the high tariffs, coupled with the widening of the tax net and high cost of production.
One sector of the SME’s that has been mostly affected by this developmentis sachet water producers.
Aninvestigation conducted by Newsghana.Com in Agona Swedru on some of the sachet water producers in the area has revealed that electricity cost for production has shot to over 400% in the last two years.
Speaking to the Director of Pamfoah Industries, producers of Good Friend drinking water Ms. Ekua Pamfoah, it was realized that the company spends over GH3,000.00 Cedis on electricity alone daily for production, and additional GH3,000.00 Cedis on fuel to power its generator when the lights go off, excluding cost of fuel on vehicles for sales.
According to her, the situation is so alarming that most of the sachet water producers are considering closing down their factories to save themselves from running into debt.
The situation was not different from Bethel Investments Ltd., producers of Bethel drinking water where the manager of the company, Mr. Michael Marfo also lamented bitterly on the high cost of electricity tariffs, tax returns and high cost of raw materials for packaging.
According to him, though the company does not produce in large quantities as others do, he however noted that it spends not less than GH1,000.00Cedis on electricity alone every month, far exceeding its profit margin for the same period.
Established by the Presbyterian Church-Swedru [Bethel Congregation] to also produce fruit juice, Mr. as a way of creating employment opportunities for both members of the Church and youth in the town, Marfo hinted that the church has decided to abandon the production of the fruit juice because of the high increase in electricity tariffs and taxes, though he revealed it had already planted large plantation of citrus intended to feed the factory.
The Manager of Marquis Company Ltd. Producers of Pompous drinking water, Mr. Seth Owusu Agyapong also expressed similar sentiments when Newsghana.Com visited the factory to ascertain the situation there.
In a briefing, the Manager noted that the company spends over GH 6,000.00 Cedis on electricity alone every month, not including other production cost and fuel on transportation for sales.
According to him, the situation has compelled the company to lay off some of its employees to cut down cost so as to sustain its existence in business.
He also mentioned high interest rates charged by the lending institutions on loans, and called for the introduction of prudent policies by the government to ensure that financial institutions reduce interest on loans granted to SME’s for them to be able to continue to serve as the major employers in the job market.
He said if that is not done, sooner than later many Small and Medium Scale Enterprises would collapse and it is the government that will suffer the consequence, as it cannot absorb the huge number of the unemployed who may be affected by the action by the SME’s.
Source; Robert Ayanful
