Processes to review electricity tariffs are underway to determine the exact level of adjustment.
The Head of Public Relations and External Affairs of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Mr Bawa Munkaila confirmed this to GBC NEWS in Accra.
The Head of Public Relations and External Affairs of PURC, Mr Bawa Munkaila said 2021 is a major tariff review year for the Commission and the various procedures have been triggered to collate inputs.
He was, however, uncertain whether the review will lead to an increase or not. For now, he says, the PURC is only engaging key stakeholders including government, the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on the review.
https://youtu.be/uLe3TsmX69k
The last tariff review was in 2019.
Mr. Munkaila was not sure how long the review processes will take for the final determination. Some industry watchers believe the review has been necessitated by the anticipated increase in the price of gas used largely in power generation, cedi depreciation and crude oil prices.
They cited technical and commercial losses experienced during transmission and distribution of electricity by GRIDCo and the ECG as well as government’s subsidy as other indicators that come into play, in determining the new user price for electricity.
PURC is tasked by law to provide guidelines for rates to be charged for the provision of utility services, examine and approve the rates, protect the interest of consumers and providers of utility services while monitoring and enforcing standards of performance for provision of utility services among other functions. The Commission is presently without its Board of Directors.
Mr. Munkaila hopes that the Board will be constituted in good time to assist the Commission to fully perform its functions. The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, PURC was set up as a multi-sectorial regulator to oversee the provision of utility services and determine rates in the electricity and water sectors.
By: Dominic Hlordzi.
