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Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has expressed disappointment in the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) and the utility service providers in the country over the recent tariff increment. According to Mr. Pratt, the tariff increments are attempts to blackmail consumers. He said, in an interview with Radio Gold, that the indebtedness of the service providers; particularly VALCO which, as revealed by Kwesi Pratt, is indebted to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and GRIDCO to a tune of $ 87 million, is a major contributing factor to the recent changes in the utility tariffs. Describing as "reckless" the increases in utility tariffs, he debunked the notion that if the tariffs are not increased, it will have a rippling effect on the electricity supply resulting in load shedding, asserting that the explanations given by the service providers are intended to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians. �The blackmail of the Ghanaian consumer is most unfortunate. If you talk to the consumer and you say that look, if you don�t pay these increased tariffs, you are going to have power curtailment. Power supply is going to be disrupted and so on, as far as I�m concerned; that amounts to blackmail...It is calculated to blackmail the public and to deceive all of us. �These increases are extremely reckless. They are not justifiable under any circumstance. The politicians in power should open their eyes on these technocrats. They are letting them down. They�ve let every government down. They�ve let the people of Ghana down," he exclaimed. To him, the only resolution to this challenge is to see a major improvement in the level of efficiency in the activities of the utility service providers. Meanwhile, the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC), Wednesday, announced new tariffs at a press conference. Consumers of electricity and water will have to pay up to 78.9% and 52% more for electricity and water respectively, effective October 1st.