Electricity and water tariffs have gone up by 2.63 per cent and 1.06 per cent respectively effective April 1, 2015, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has announced.
A statement signed by the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Ing. Stephen Akuoko, said although the Commission arrived at an actual increase of 31.73 per cent for electricity and 21.30 per cent for water, the Commission used the Decision Variable to pass on a minimal tariff increase.
It said the action was necessitated by the current electricity situation in the country which is causing consumers to spend extra on the acquisition of other alternative sources of electricity.
According to the PURC, the increase is meant to preserve the current load share situation by assisting the electricity distribution companies to maintain its network under the current circumstances to avoid an immediate collapse of the distribution network.
The statement explained further that the new water tariff is the actual tariff which was denied the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) during the fourth quarter of 2014 due to non-compliance with regulatory directive.
“It should also be recalled that the GWCL was denied a 4.54% Water Tariff increase as a form of a penalty during the fourth quarter of 2014 due to the non – compliance with Regulatory Directive, but fortunately they have fulfilled the benchmark. Therefore, the Commission has released for implementation effective April I, 2015 the gazetted water tariff for the fourth quarter of 2014,” the statement said.
Source: Graphic Online
