ACEP welcomes tariff hike

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has welcomed the increment in water and electricity tariffs by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).

Benjamin Boakye, Executive Director of the AECP said the prices of crude oil, which was one of the reasons cited by the PURC for the increment, has been dropping over the years hence, the need to increase the tariff to cover the shortfalls.

He however, said the PURC must explain into detail the factors that accounted for the increment.

“The PURC has the duty to explain into detail the factors that accounted for the increment,” he told journalist on Tuesday 1st October, 2019.

He was commenting on the upward adjustments in water and electricity tariffs as announced by the PURC in a statement on Monday 30th September, 2019.

The PURC’s statement signed by Mami Dufie Ofori, Executive Secretary 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)”