New Electricity And Water Tariffs Take Effect
The upward adjustment in water and electricity tariffs take effect today, June 1, 2023.
In May, the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC), announced an increase in electricity and water tariffs for the second quarter of the year after concluding the quarterly review.
For water, the PURC said, the new tariff will affect all customers including residential, non-residential, commercial and industrial customers.
The adjustment, it said, is particular to the class a customer belongs to.
“In taking this decision, the Commission took cognisance of the cost of electricity, increased volume/cost of chemicals for raw water treatment, Cedi/Us dollar exchange rate and inflation,” the PURC’s statement dated May 19 noted.
Electricity
Electricity tariff has been increased to 18.36% and will affect all consumers and will be effective until the end of the second quarter of the year, the PURC noted.
It justified, “Since the announcement of the first quarter tariff decision in January 2023, the key variables underlying the rate setting have changed. The weighted average cedi/US dollar exchange rate used for the first quarter tariff review was GHc10.5421 to the US dollar. Since then the Ghana cedi has depreciated against the US dollar.
“The first quarter tariff decision resulted in 25% under-recovery of the exchange rate. This has to be recovered to ensure that the country does not add to the already mounting debt in the energy sector. The projected rate for the second quarter plus the first quarter under-recovery is GHc12.7118 to the US Dollar.”
The PURC holds that that review is necessary to maintain the real value cost of the supply of utility services and to ensure that the utility companies do not under or over cost.
