PURC To Announce Increase In Utility Tariffs

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) will soon announce an upward adjustment in utility tariffs. This follows the general consensus among stakeholders for the commission to grant tariff increases. Currently, the commission is at the stage of �interrogation� where it is considering proposals by the utilities and their reasons for the adjustment. Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah made this known to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday. The electricity producers made up of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Volta River Authority (VRA) Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCO) are requesting for 166 per cent increase. On the part of the Ghana Water Company, they are also requesting for 130 per cent, however, since 30 per cent of the cost of the GWC is from electricity they had to wait for the electricity company to get their increases. Under the interrogation stage, Nana Jantuah said the commission was considering the inputs the utility service providers had been using in producing the electricity such as crude oil, equipment which were all procured in dollar denominations. She said the 10 per cent annual demand for electricity is also a factor requiring expansion in the sector.