The Head of Communications at the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Ali Simon Jarana has told Ghanaians to expect a review of utility tariffs in July this year.
He assured that Ghanaians will receive realistic increment in the tariffs.
Speaking to the media after a stakeholder engagement on the proposals by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to the PURC to increase tariffs, on Wednesday May 11, he said “There are a lot of factors that go into tariff determination. One is the interest of the consumer that is provided for by the Act that established PURC; the second is the interest of the investor community; third, we have regulatory benchmarks that the utilities must also meet. We are also looking at some micro economic indicators i.e inflation, we are looking at exchange rate, exchange rate because of their equipment, they import them. GWCL for instance, they import chlorine to treat the water, NEDCo will import Copper, steel.”
“Ghanaians should expect a review in tariffs in July, that I can assure you.”
ECG has proposed 148% increment which the PURC will look into and either approve or disapprove.
During a stakeholder engagement, the management of the EGC said it is looking forward to having the PURC approve its proposal as it is to help enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
Technical and commercial losses also accounted for the increased proposal.
The proposal, the General Manager for Regulatory Management at ECG, Sylvia Noshie, explained is partly as a result of an accumulated adjustment for the past four years.
She said Ghanaians will pay more than the 148% next year if the PURC disapproves the current proposal.
She added that, per their projections, if PURC approved the 148%, there will be an average yearly increment of 7%.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Consumer Protection, Kofi Kapito, has bemoaned the technical and commercial losses incurred by utility service providers. He was particularly concerned about those of ECG.
http://Everybody, including the President must pay utility bills – Kofi Kapito
The PURC hosted all the utility service providers at the Alisa hotel in Accra, together with other stakeholders, for them to justify their proposal for increment in tariffs. While the ECG is proposing 148% increment, Ghana Water Company Limited is proposing 334% and NedCo is proposing 113%.
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana