New tariffs ill-timed, insensitive - TUC
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is up in arms against the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for what the union describes as “totally ill-timed and absolutely insensitive increases” in electricity and water tariffs.
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“We are shocked and outraged by the recently announced increases in utility prices by the PURC,” a statement issued by the TUC Secretary General, Mr Kofi Asamoah, said.
The PURC last Tuesday increased tariffs for both water and electricity by 6.54 per cent and 4.54 per cent, respectively, as part of the quarterly automatic adjustment formula (AAF).
Although consumers will not pay the increment in water because of the utility regulator’s decision to freeze the payment, the increment has tickled the raw nerves of the TUC.
“We find the supposed reasons for this freeze as a disingenuous attempt to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians. In fact, there is no difference in the operational inefficiency of power producers and providers as against those in the water sector,” the statement said.
This year’s increases
From January 1, this year, the PURC started the implementation of the AAF, a pricing mechanism based on factors that reflect the actual cost of electricity and water supply with an upward adjustment in tariffs.
Using the AAF in the first quarter of 2014, electricity and water tariffs went up by 9.73 per cent and 6.80 per cent, respectively.
In the second quarter they went up by 12 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively, but the increases were deferred and later implemented in the third quarter.
The adjustment in the fourth quarter makes it the third time this year that utility prices have been increased.
Why electricity and water tariffs should not be increased
Making a case against the latest increment, the TUC said, “At a time when our economy and citizens face some of the harshest and most challenging economic conditions in our country’s recent history, to be hit with such increases in water and electricity prices – two of the most basic needs of humankind – is an indication that leadership is totally out of touch with the needs of the citizenry.”
According to the statement, the gains made in the exchange rate, per the utility pricing formula, should have been factored to reduce the prices of utilities and petroleum products for the benefit of Ghanaians, instead of the newly announced increases.
“We are, therefore, unable to comprehend and appreciate the reasons proffered as justification for these increases – indeed there are none.
“We are left to think that the only reasons for this ‘facile reflex of simply increasing the prices’, without regard to the plight of the Ghanaian people, is to take unfair advantage of working people and the weak and vulnerable in our society,” it said.
It, therefore, called on the PURC to immediately and unconditionally reverse the increases and further reduce the prices of water and electricity.
Caution
It warned that if the government and the PURC failed to heed to the call to reduce the prices of the two utilities, the TUC would “take all legitimate action to ensure that this attempt at taking us, the people of this country, for granted is resisted”.
The statement said the union had commenced the processes to ensure that the price increases were reversed and relief granted to working people and the vulnerable in society.
