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On September 1, 2022, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) will enact new tariffs.
Electricity and water rates are anticipated to increase by 27.15% and 21.55%, respectively.
In the aforementioned release, the PURC acknowledged the financial challenges that consumers were facing, but added that without these price hikes, the utility suppliers might not be able to fulfill their purpose.
“In balancing interests of the service providers and consumers, the PURC acknowledged that the very economic variables that have occasioned the steep increases proposed by the service providers also affect the consumers.
The Commission did concede that some utility price hikes were unavoidable if the country was to avoid another power crisis and all of its consequences, including job losses.
On August 15, 2022, the Chairman of the PURC, Mr. Ebo Quagraine, addressed journalists in Accra and urged the public to help utility firms recover losses by reporting unauthorized connections.
The ECG had suggested raising its charges by 148% in 2022 and by an average of 7.6% throughout the years 2023 to 2026.
In its petition to the PURC, the electricity distributor asked for an increase to cover the years 2019 through 2022.
In order to meet distribution service charges, it also suggested an average price rise of 7.6% for the following four years (DSC).
The Ghana Water Company Limited, on the other side, also requested a 334% rise in the tariff.
The GWCL argued that over time, approved tariffs have not been entirely cost-reflective. Customers of energy and water, however, disagreed.They contended that utility tariff ideas are excessively high.
According to the ECG, the proposed significant rise resulted from both the cost of finished projects and the discrepancy between the actual cost recovery tariff and the PURC-approved prices.
In addition, the GWCL claimed that the depreciation of the cedi caused the average tariff per cubic metre, which was 1.27 USD on average in 2019, to fall to 1.13 USD. The GWCL claimed that this had hampered its capacity to replace and repair aging and unreliable equipment and pipes.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
