Wrong timing for proposal of electricity tariffs hike – Consumer Protection Agency

The Consumer Protection Agency has opined that the timing for a proposed increment in electricity tariffs does not bode well with the current plight of citizens.

The call comes after power distribution company, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) last week announced that it has proposed an increment in tariffs in order to mobilise revenue for its operational duties.

But Chief Executive of the Consumer Protection Agency, Kofi Kapito reacting to the move in an interview with Citi News monitored by GhanaWeb urged the utility regulator, Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to rather prioritize compensations for consumers who had their electrical appliances destroyed as a result of the recent intermittent power outages.

“The timing is very wrong considering what the Ghanaian is going through when it comes to these recent power outages. The outages are the concern of the Ghanaian. I think if the outages are solved or resolved, we can look at these non-tariffs that ECG is proposing,” Kofi Kapito urged

He added, “PURC should actually look at what has gone on with the recent power outages as to how they will compensate Ghanaians who might have their appliances destroyed.”

Meanwhile, an Energy Analyst, Omar Farouk on his part says that it is essential for PURC to increase electricity tariffs primarily to absorb the actual cost of power generation and distribution.

According to him, consumers are currently not paying inter alia for the cost of Reserve margin and the actual cost of distribution etc.

Farouk earlier explained that the Distribution Service Charge1 (DSC1) which is about 16 pesewas gives the power Distribution Utilities (DUs) an annual revenue of about GH¢1.6billion when the opex component of their ARR is close to GH¢2.5billion. This means that the DUs are not able to meet their annual opex.

The last time the country saw an increment in electricity tariff was back in October 2019 of which the PURC slapped a 5.94% increment on consumers.