PURC starts review of utility tariffs

Daily Graphic Jan - 31 - 2018 , 09:00

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has begun processes to examine and approve electricity and water tariffs for this year.

In line with that, the commission has set today as the deadline for members of the public to submit their inputs on the tariff review.

A statement signed by the Executive Secretary of the PURC, Mrs Mami Dufie Ofori, and issued in Accra on Tuesday said the commission was analysing proposals it had received from the utility companies.

“The 2018 major tariff review commenced by way of soliciting inputs from all stakeholders of the commission and members of the public.

“The commission has subsequently received proposals from the utility companies, including the Volta River Authority (VRA), the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo), the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), the Enclave Power Company (EPC) and the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT),” it said.

The move by the commission to review tariffs is in accordance with the PURC Act, 1997 (Act 538).

Background

On January 14, this year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced an average of 14 per cent reduction in electricity tariffs for non-residential users across the country.

“For barbers, it is being reduced by 18 per cent; for hairdressers and beauticians, 15.7 per cent, and for tailors, 9.8 per cent," the President had stated at the opening of the eighth Salon Academy of the National Association of Beauticians and Hairdressers in Accra.

While announcing the cuts in tariffs, the President also stressed that the government had taken a leap from regularising the power situation in the country and was now moving on to ensure a boost for private businesses.