“Electricity Accounts for 60% of Manufacturers’ Operational Costs” – UACN Boss

Managing Director, Gossy Natural Spring Water, a subsidiary of UACN, Folake Oshinyemi has said that electricity takes up a huge part of the total cost of operation of manufacturers.

She lamented that the firm spends between 40 and 60 per cent of its total costs on power generation, noting that it has impacted on the cost of the finished products.

“It’s ridiculous that the government wants us to pay for what we cannot claim to have used in a whole year. In the last one year, we have generated our own power in our factory in Ikogosi, Ekiti State.” Oshinyemi said.

“Here, we generate our power, tar our roads and are made to pay taxes and levies; now they are increasing tariffs for power that is not supplied to us. The government should, therefore, ensure that the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) and the generation companies (GenCos) are effectively supported to ensure adequate power supply,” she added.

On the effect of the foreign exchange policy, she said: “The forex policy has deeply affected our operations, but the truth is that as a nation, we badly managed our economy and our natural resources, especially oil. As we all know, the components of Gossy bottled water and the sachet water are all by-products of petrochemical products.