The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has given reasons for the increase in water and electricity tariffs.
Tariffs for electricity and water have been increased by 29.96% and water 8.3% respectively.
This follows a major increase in tariffs in August 2022.
Speaking on Atinka FM’s AM Drive with host Kaakyire Ofori Ayim, Dr. Eric Kofi Obutey, Director for Research and Corporate Affairs at PURC, explained the factors that were considered before the increment.
He mentioned that although the PURC is equally mindful of the current difficult economic circumstances, the potential for outages would be catastrophic for Ghana and had to be avoided.
“The Commission, therefore, decided to increase the average end-user tariff for electricity by 29.96% across the board for all consumer groups.” The average end-user tariff for water has also been increased by 8.3% (Table 2). “The Commission, however, approved varying rate adjustments, including some reductions for selected industrial and commercial consumers, as part of the ongoing restructuring of the existing water rate structure,” he said.
Read Also: PURC increases electricity tariff by 29.96% and water 8.3%
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) yesterday released a statement announcing the increment.
“The PURC is equally mindful of the current difficult economic circumstances but notes that the potential for outages would be catastrophic for Ghana and has to be avoided. The PURC, therefore, sought to balance prevention of extended power outages and its deleterious implications on jobs and livelihoods with minimizing the impact of rate increases on consumers.”
“Since the announcement of the major tariff in August 2022, these key variables underlying the rate setting have changed significantly. For example, the weighted average Ghana Cedi/Dollar exchange rate used for the major tariff review was GHS 7.5165 to the US Dollar. Since then, we have witnessed the depreciation of life Cedi against the US Dollar and other major currencies. The projected weighted average Ghana Cedi US Dollar exchange rate used in First Quarter 2023 Tariff Analysis is GHS10.5421/USD”.
“The combined effect of the Cedi/US Dollar exchange rate, inflation and WACOG is that the utility companies are significantly under-recovering and require an upward adjustment of their tariffs in order to keep the lights on and water flowing”, excerpts of the statement from PURC read.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu
