Kampala — THE Government spends over sh11b per month on subsidising power tariffs for consumers, finance minister Dr. Ezra Suruma has said, reports Mary Karugaba.

Suruma said the Government has to share the cost with the consumers in form of increased power tariffs.

"The issue of energy is tremendously affecting the budget. According to the agreement, we have to pay for the power but government doesn't have all this money to pay per month. We have decided to share the cost with consumers," he said.

He said the Government was forced to channel some of the money meant for the rural electrification programme, to subsidise power.

However, he said the Government would soon acquire another thermal generator to produce 50mega watts.

Suruma was appearing before the parliamentary finance committee on Friday to discuss the National Budget Framework Paper for the financial year 2006/7-2007/8.

He said the government was negotiating with a Norwegian company to generate 50mgw starting February next year.

"That means the tariffs will go higher because government will then need sh33b per month to subsidise power," he said.