Water, electricity tariffs increment starts today

The new tariffs for utility services announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) will take effect from today, Thursday, September 1, 2022.

The new tariffs include a 27.15% increase in electricity and 21.55% increase in water.

The utility service providers had requested for drastic upward review of tariffs to help them recover and sustain their operational costs.

Ghanaians have argued that the economic conditions would make it difficult to pay for such services.

In an interview with Citi News, however, the General Manager in charge of External Communications at ECG, Charles Nii Ayiku Ayiku appealed to the public to bear with the rise.

“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.”

PURC announced the increases after utility companies including the Electricity Company of Ghana and Ghana Water Company Limited proposed an increase in tariffs by 148% and 334% respectively.

PURC however explained that the decision was arrived at after rigorous analysis and extensive consultations with industry players, as well as an assessment of the economic conditions of consumers.

The ECG had proposed that its tariffs be increased by 148% for 2022 and with 7.6% average adjustments between the periods of 2023 to 2026.

The proposed sharp increase, according to the ECG, was due to the gap between the actual cost recovery tariff and PURC-approved tariffs as well as the cost of completed projects.

The GWCL also argued that while the average tariff per cubic metre in 2019 was 1.27 USD, the same was reduced to USD 1.13 as a result of cedi depreciation.

The GWCL said this had affected its ability to carry out repairs and replacements of aged and obsolete equipment and pipelines.