Consumers To Pay 150% Utility Tarrifs-PURC

CONSUMERS of water and electricity could be paying up to 150 per cent in tariffs, the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) has stated.

According to the PURC, currently, the data cropping up after various interrogations and other procedures indicate that there would be 150 per cent increase for electricity and 97 per cent for water.

The Director of Public Relations and External Affairs of the PURC, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah, made this known to the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra yesterday.

The utility service providers submitted proposals to the PURC for upward adjustments in utility tariffs some few months ago.

The electricity producers, comprising the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Volta River Authority (VRA) and Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCO), are requesting 166 per cent increase.

On the other hand, the Ghana Water Company (GWC) is also asking for 130 per cent. However since 30 per cent of the cost of the GWC is from electricity, it has to wait for ECG before it can also indicate its percentage increase.

The commission had to follow laid-down procedures before it could make any major decision on the request for tariff adjustments. As part of the process, the commission interrogated the proposals submitted by the service providers.

However, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah said the commission was still working on the data to make the final decision on the tariffs as soon as possible.

According to her, the increment was influenced by indicators such as the depreciation of the cedi, crude oil purchase, gas availability and other market-driven and microeconomic factors.

Electricity demand is growing at 10 per cent per annum, she said, and the company needed funds to discharge its mandate.

She assured the public of quality services by the service providers, saying “we have interventions that we can use to sanction them and we are going to ensure that they do the right thing”.

Utility tariffs were last increased in 2010, with 89 per cent increase in electricity and 36 per cent in water.<

Via: DailyGraphic