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A meeting between the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) and Organised Labour to discuss the proposed suspension of the implementation of the new utility tariffs ended inconclusively.

The meeting was held by the PURC at the request of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) and attended by representatives of the various trade unions.

While Organised Labour, led by the Secretary-General of the TUC, Mr Kofi Asamoah, insisted that the new tariffs for electricity and water should be reduced and/or suspended, the PURC, led by its Chairman, Dr Emmanuel Annan, insisted that the new tariffs had already taken effect from yesterday after they had been gazetted in accordance with the law.

Tariffs

On Monday, December 7, 2015, the PURC announced an upward adjustment of utility tariffs.

Consumers were to pay 59.2 per cent more for electricity and 67.2 per cent for water with effect from December 14, 2015.

The figure, which fell short of the 126 per cent demanded by the electricity providers and 400 per cent, asked for by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), was less than that for 2014 when electricity was increased by 78.9 per cent.

The increment, according to the PURC officials, were to enable the utility providers have a clean balance sheet and be able to borrow from the financial market without depending on the government to finance their operations.

Before announcing the new tariffs, the PURC had organised fora in parts of the country to seek the views of the public on the proposals submitted by the utility companies for a review of tariffs.

Petition to PURC

In its petition to the PURC yesterday, Organised Labour demanded that the increases could only be implemented after power supply had stabilised.

“The utility companies must also be compelled by the PURC to reduce their technical and operational inefficiencies as the conditions for tariff review”, the petition said.

Mr Asamoah, who presented the petition to the Chairman of PURC, argued that the PURC ought to consider the availability and reliability of power before the upward adjustments.

“We maintain that it is only when the people of Ghana, including workers in the formal and informal sector are sure of reliable supply of power and water that they can be convinced to pay higher tariffs”, Mr Asamoah said.

He added that the consumer was already paying heavily for the depreciation of the Ghana cedi and high inflation despite the drastic fall in wages since 2012.

Dumsor

Organised Labour also said Ghanaians doubted that the increases would solve the power rationing situation as the providers would like the general public to believe.

“As workers, we are worried about the ever-increasing utility tariffs which do not match our incomes. We are also worried about the poor macro-economic performance and the technical and operational inefficiencies of the utility companies which have contributed greatly to the frequent hikes in tariffs”, he said.

Tariffs effective

The Chairman of the PURC, Dr Annan, who received the petition, however, announced that the implementation of the new tariffs took effect yesterday after it had been gazetted in accordance with the law.

The Executive Secretary of the PURC, Mr Samuel Sarpong, for his part, told the media that the PURC had followed the procedures in arriving at the increases.

“In arriving at the tariffs, the law says the interest of the consumer and the provider ought to be considered and that is exactly what we have done; and we followed all procedures,” Mr Sarpong stated.

He said the tariffs were supposed to have taken effect from October 1, 2015 but ongoing consultations delayed the process, hence it was deferred to December 14.