Energy Commission officials with stakeholders at the town hall meeting in Tamale
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Energy Commission has organised a town hall meeting on New Energy Efficiency Regulation in Tamale the Northern Region.
The town hall meeting aims to raise awareness about the new energy efficiency regulations for electrical appliances, address stakeholder concerns, promote the benefits of energy-efficient appliances, and build capacity among media personnel to support compliance and adoption of energy-efficient technologies and practices as well as serve as platforms for knowledge-sharing, capacity-building, and networking among participants.
Ghana’s Parliament recently passed 17 new regulations and revised three existing ones pertaining to electrical appliances.
These measures aim to strengthen the Standards and Labeling (S&L) regime, expand its scope, and enhance enforcement mechanisms and the regulations cover a wide range of appliances, including refrigerators, air conditioners, and microwaves among others ensuring compliance with Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS), introducing star ratings, and requiring the registration of all models of regulated appliances.
The Assistant Manager, Energy Efficiency Regulations at the Ghana Energy Commission, Mr. Hubert Zan, at the town hall meeting, said the Energy Commission as a government regulator has realised that a lot of the electrical appliances imported into the country are either substandard or does not meet the minimum requirement.
“We believe that coming up with these minimum energy performance standards will serve as a benchmark to be able to regulate the kind of appliances that are being introduced into the country,” he said.
According to him, the new law is not prohibiting used products but rather meeting the minimum standard and that importers who wish to do genuine business in Ghana should make sure their products are endorsed, registered and can acquire the yellow label which will enable consumers to make an informed decisions.
He urged consumers to purchase appliances where they will pay less for their bills to save some money into their pocket.
“The energy efficiency measures are to encourage the Ghanaian consumer to make sure you are saving some money in your pocket as a Ghanaian consumer,” he said.
Mr. Zan warned importers to desist from importing products that does not meet the standards adding that importers found guilty will be made to re-export the products out of the country.
BY Eric Kombat, Tamale