27.15% and 21.55% utility tariffs increment kicks off today
The much-anticipated electricity and water tariff increment approved by the Public Utility Regulatory Commission, PURC commences today September 1st 2022.
As communicated by the PURC the percentages are pegged at as follows 27.15% for electricity and 21.55% for water.
The Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ghana Water Company Limited had been knocking at the doors of the PURC proposing an increment of tariffs to keep them running.
However, the economic situation in Ghana has left Ghanaians a bit worried about the increment.
During an interview on Citi FM, Mr Charles Nii Ayiku Ayiku, General Manager in charge of External Communications at ECG appealed to the citizenry to bear with the current upward adjustment.
“I think that Ghanaians should understand and help us. The tides in the current economy are not hidden. We know that globally, we have all been affected, so they need to support the company.”
The PURC explained that after constant appeals from the utility service providers, they had to undertake consultations and assessments of Ghanaians’ economic situation to strike a balance before coming up with the upward adjustment.
Initially, the ECG had wanted a 148% increment explaining that the reason it wants that increment is because of the gap between the actual cost recovery tariff and the PURC-approved tariffs as well as the cost of completed projects.
The GWCL on the other hand wanted an increment of 334% because the average tariff per cubic metre in 2019 was 1.27 USD, the same was reduced to USD 1.13 because of how the cedi depreciated.
As they complain that this has hindered their ability to do maintenance and change obsolete meters and lines.
