PURC increases electricity, water tariff effective February 1

The Public Utilities Regula­tory Commission (PURC) has increased the average end-user tariff for electricity by 29.96 per cent and water by 8.3 per cent, effective February 1, 2023.

The commission has also ap­proved a Weighted Average Cost of Gas (WACOG) of GH¢64.

Dr Ishmael Ackah, Executive Secretary of the PURC, made this known in the commission’s release on its 2023 first quarter tariff re­view decision for natural gas, water and electricity, copied to the Ghana­ian Times in Accra on Monday.

He explained that the Commis­sion considered four key factors in­cluding the Ghana Cedi/US Dollar exchange rate, inflation, generation mix and the weighted average cost of natural gas in arriving at its decision.

Dr Ackah indicated that the new electricity tariff, effective Febru­ary 1, 2023, for lifeline customers was 54 GHp/kWh; 115GHp/ kWh for residential customers and 108GHp/KWh for non-residential customers.

For water tariffs, he indicated that new tariff for non-residential customers was 1215 GHp/m³; 11.2 pesewas for non-residential; 1800 GHp/m³ for commercial (sachet water producers) and 486 GHp/m³ for public pipe stands.

Dr Ackah said the key variables underlying the rate setting had changed significantly since the announcement of the tariff in August, last year.

“For example, the weighted average Ghana Cedi (US Dollar exchange rate used for the major tariff review was GH¢7.5165 to the US Dollar. Since then, we have witnessed the depreciation of the Cedi against the US Dollar and other major currencies. The projected weighted average Ghana Cedi US Dollar exchange rate used in First Quarter 2023 Tariff Analysis is GH¢10.5421/USD,” he stated.

He said these among others had negatively affected the ability of the utilities to purchase critical in­puts required for their operations.

Dr Ackah said the commission then sought to balance prevention of extended power outages and its deleterious implications on jobs and livelihoods with minimising the impact of rate increases on consumers.

He therefore commended stake­holders for their support as it con­tinues to implement quarterly tariff reviews in accordance with its Rate Setting Guidelines for Quarterly Review of Natural Gas, Electricity and Water Tariffs.

“In doing so, the Commission will continue to equitably balance the interests of the Utility Service Providers and Consumers and hold service providers to strict adher­ence to regulatory standards and benchmarks,” he added.

Meanwhile the PURC in August 2022 increased the average end-us­er tariffs for electricity by 27.15 per cent and water by 21.55 per cent, effective September 1, 2022.

The commission has also ap­proved a Weighted Average Cost of Gas (WACOG) of GH¢ 44.

BY ABIGAIL ARTHUR

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