THE Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has announced tariff increment for utilities effective September 1, 2022. Whilst electricity goes up by 27.15 percent, water price will increase by 21.55 percent.
The PURC believes that some level of increment in utility tariffs were necessary if the nation was to avoid another power crisis and its attendant effects including job losses.
“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 Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) had earlier demanded 148 percent increase in tariff.
The proposal from the power distributor, submitted to the PURC requested the increment to cover the period 2019 and 2022.
It also proposed an average increase of 7.6 percent in tariff over the next four years to cover Distribution Service Charges.
The Ghana Water Company Limited also demanded 334 percent increase in tariffs.
The GWCL insisted that approved tariffs over the years have not been fully cost-reflective. But consumers of water and electricity disagreed. They argued that proposals for utility tariffs are too high, adding that the increase in utility tariff is commensurate with the services rendered.
