Corn millers within the Tamale Metropolis have been struggling to make profit from their labor since the introduction of prepaid meters by Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) some time ago.
The huge operation cost particularly regarding the purchasing of electric power, has resulted in the increment of milling charges which is shifted to households that patronize the grinding mills.
Adam Moro, a corn mill operator at Changli, who disclosed this to Diamond News indicated that the high tariffs charged by NEDCo accounts for the increased charges which often leads to disagreement between the millers and the clients.
He said milling a bowl of corn into flour cost GH 6 instead Gh 1 while milling a bag of maize is pegged at GH50 instead of GH25.
Adam Moro, therefore wants the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) and the government to take a second look at the energy charges so that there will be peace between them and their clients, mostly households.
Barkisu who patronizes Adam’s corn mill, quizzed why consumers will buy a bowl of maize for GH3, but pay GH6 at the mill in order to get flour. She also appealed to the government to intervene before things get out of hand.
Diamond News reached out to the chairman of the Corn Millers’ Association in Tamale, Mohamed Anani who said there has been situations where the mill operators had to result to stealing electric power just because of high charges in tariffs, although he admitted that was illegal.
Mohamed Anani also stressed that many of his members are getting out of business due to the high tariffs charged by NEDCo in the region.
Story by: Sa-ad Salis
