PURC's new quarterly tariff review set to begin in January

Dr Eric Obutey, Director of Research and Corporate Affairs of the Public Regulatory Utility Commission has stated that the regulatory body's quarterly tariff review/adjustment(QTR) will commence in January 2023.

During a media workshop on QTR on December 19, 2022, the PURC announced that though the QTR will be introduced this week, it will take effect next year.

Obutey, in an interview, explained that the quarterly tariff adjustments will last three months, hence the soon-to-be-announced tariffs will run from January 1, 2023, to the end of March 2023.

"Every three months, we will do adjustments to the tariffs we announced in August this year... Currently, we are doing quarterly tariff adjustment, which is supposed to take effect from the 1st of January to the end of March 2023. That is what we are working on currently," he explained

He continued by highlighting the variables that determine the adjustment of the quarterly tariffs.

"The adjustment that we do, the variable we consider include the exchange rate, the US dollar against the Ghana cedi; we use inflation rate also, and we also use the inflation rate, that is between the thermal and hydro and also fuel prices. Those are the exogenous variables we consider," he noted.

PURC's principal manager, Robert Saka Addo also noted that the objective of the new QTR model is to minimize the impact of uncontrollable factors, cost of Natural Gas, electricity, and water provision and also ensure the delivery of good quality of utility.

In August, the PURC announced a 27.15% increase in electricity tariffs and a 21.55% increase in water tariffs, which took effect on September 1, 2022.

The tariff increment came after utility companies including, the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ghana Water Company Limited respectively proposed tariff hikes of 148% and 334%.