Contrary to the announced 59.2% electricity tariff increase by the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC), consumers have been paying more for power than officially announced since January 1, 2016.
This is due to a directive by the PURC to power retailers to charge some additional costs to consumers.
The charges are not just up by 59.2% as announced but there is also an additional 5% increase approved by Parliament for a street light levy and another 5% increase for the national electrification charge.
In addition, consumers pay a regular monthly service fee ranging from GHc6.33 to about GHc60 depending on the quantum of consumption and user classification.
So assuming the power is GHc1 per unit, an increase of 59.2% takes it to GHc1.592.
5% of 1.592 = 0.0796 for street lighting.
An extra 5% of 1.592 = 0.0796 for national electrification charge.
The charges will sum up to 1.7512.
So cumulatively, as indicated by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the increments come up to around 75.12%.
This simply means if for instance a consumer buys GHc20 worth of power, which initially could last averagely for about two weeks for a regular household, it may now take less than a week.
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By citifmonline.com/Ghana