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Sep 05th
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| No power for cash registers |
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| Saturday, 31 May 2008 | |
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By Kaleyesus Bekele
The Ministry of Revenue last March introduced a new directive which forces all supermarkets and hotels to use cash register machines. The businesses are told to register their daily sales and report it to the Ministry of Revenue. The cash register machine is directly connected to the Ministry’s network. The machine directly reports the daily sales to the ministry. The directive became effective in March 8. Hotels, restaurants, cafés, bakeries, supermarkets and related businesses are forced to use a standard cash register machine that operates with software. The Ministry of Revenue has set a standard for the machines imported by private companies. The ministry has licensed four companies to import the cash register machines. However, so far Petram is the only company which is importing the machines. Jupiter and Omedad are in the process of importing the machines. Biyazen Lakew, the cash register machine licensing and supervision department with the Ministry of Revenue told the Reporter that the ministry will give the companies the green light to import the machines. "They will be authorized by next week,” Biyazen said. Companies are requested to deposit one million birr guarantee to obtain the license to import the machine. There are some three companies which supply software to the cash register machine. Sinet Software Technologies, Black Star Engineering and Minase are the companies that distribute software. The ministry hasn't as yet started registering and licensing the companies that import software for the cash register machines. Biyazen said the ministry would soon start licensing the software companies. According to him, the companies will be required to deposit one million birr.” There are companies which import and distribute the hardware and there are others which provide the software,” Biyazen said.” We will soon start registering the companies which supply the software. We need the guarantee if organizations are afflicted by software which has a defect,” Biyazen added. In recent days the power shortage has created a problem in handling transactions with the cash register. In particular, those who do not have generators are facing problems. A supermarket owner told The Reporter that he had to use manual methods when there is no power. “Our business is seriously affected by the power shading. You need to buy a generator and the fuel is an additional operational cost,” he said. We use the manual method when there is no light and feed the data into the cash register machine when the light is on,” he added. The elusive belg rains, coupled with the increasing electric power demand, has forced the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) to introduce power shading a month ago. Briefing reporters about electric power generation, Mihret Debebe, general manager of EEPCo, said that as part of the ongoing fast economic development activity noted in the country many factories have been established, adding that had that increased the demand for more electric power. “Factories which consume high electric power such as cement, textile and steel factories have been established. Many new factories are being built and they need more energy,” Mihret said. EEPCo has 1,396,000 customers, 40 percent of them Addis Ababa. Ninety-five percent of the customers are households and the rest are in the industrial and service sector. However, the industrial and service sector, which accounts only five percent of the number of customers, consumes 69 percent of the electric power. At the moment, EEPCo’s maximum electric generating capacity is 814 MW, 80 percent hydro and 20 percent geothermal and thermal. However, because of various reasons, including water shortage, the corporation generates only 600 to 700 MW. Mihret said that the power deficit, at the moment, is 80 MW. “We are not the only ones who are facing power shortage. South Africa is facing a serious power crisis. In India and even in the US there is a power shortage. If we were connected with our neighbors we could have imported 80 MW,” Mihret said. Power is not the only problem facing the cash register users. The users complain that they were facing some technical problems. "We sometime have difficulty in printing the daily cash transaction report,” a supermarket owner told The Reporter. The Ministry of revenue is assessing the problems facing the businesses. The Supermarkets Association and officials of the Ministry of Revenue will soon hold a meeting and discuss the problems facing the businesses. |
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- Reporter - Old Version
