The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has announced a 30% and 14% upward adjustment in electricity and water tariffs respectively.<\/p>\n
In January this year, the PURC started adjusting the prices of utilities through the Automatic Adjustment Formula.<\/p>\n
It is a pricing mechanism based on factors which reflects the actual cost of electricity and water supply.<\/p>\n
At a press briefing on Wednesday, the Commission indicated that the adjustment was made after extensive deliberations on the implementation of the third quarter Automatic Adjustment Formula.<\/p>\n
It however stated it will rather implement the second quarter price tariff adjustment of 12.09% for electricity and 6.1% for water which was deferred.<\/p>\n
In March, 2014, the PURC increased utility tariffs but deferred its implementation date of April 1, 2014.<\/p>\n
It has however announced the new implementation date as July 1, 2014.<\/p>\n
The PURC clarified that the adjustment for the third quarter was affected by factors including, the Ghana Cedi USD Exchange rate, inflation, price of crude oil and natural gas, power purchase cost, chemical cost for water among others.<\/p>\n
It acknowledged the challenges consumers were experiences regarding the unstable utility supplies but quickly emphasized the increment was made to maintain the strength of the existing electricity and water tariffs which have been affected by the depreciation of the cedi.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a marginal tariff increase, the current load shedding situation cannot be sustained and the situation might worsen,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The PURC promised to \u201ckeenly monitor the current electricity and water situation with a view to ensuring that within the current challenges, the interest of all consumers would be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n
The country is currently undergoing a load-shedding exercise. It is unclear how that will impact on the bills on consumers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @osamidan<\/a>
\n