Cedi-dollar exchange rate affects water, electricity tariffs

One of the factors that caused the upward adjustment in the water and electricity tariffs was the Cedi-dollar exchange rate, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has said.

The PURC on Monday 30th September, 2019 announced that water and electricity tariffs will go up effective Tuesday October 1, 2019.

The statement signed by Mami Dufie Ofori, Executive Secretary of the PURC said: “Following a review of Electricity and Water tariffs for the fourth quarter 2019 which is from October – December 2019, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission wishes to announce for the information of consumers of electricity and water that there has been an upward adjustment in the existing tariffs. The increase is 5.94% for electricity tariffs and 2.22% on water tariffs across board for all customer categories effective October 1, 2019.

“The Automatic Adjustment Formula (AAF) is a tariff mechanism that seeks to track and incorporate movement in key determining factors to reflect the real cost of electricity and water quarterly.

“The following factors were considered in computing he automatic adjustment formula

Ghana Cedi-US dollar Exchange rate

Inflation

Price of crude and natural gas

Fuel mix (crude, oil and natural gas

Generation mix (hydro and thermal)

Power purchase cost

Electricity cost (a major cost component in water production)

The Commission said it “however wishes to restate its commitment to embark on effective tariff monitoring programme aimed at providing the end user improved quality of service.”