The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), has announced an increase of 12.09 per cent in electricity tariff with effect from July 1.
The Commission, however, deferred the implementation of a 6.1 per cent increase in water tariff for the period.
The Commission said its deliberations on the 3rd Quarter Automatic Adjustment Formula (AAF) indicated that the tariffs should have gone up by 31.56 per cent for electricity and 14.30 per cent for water.
“However the commission has decided not to pass on the current increase but to implement the second quarter tariff of 12.09 per cent for electricity and 6.1 per cent for water, which was deferred,” a statement signed by Dr Emmanuel Annan, Chairman of the Commission, said on Wednesday.
The statement said the increase for the third quarter was driven by the key variables that underpin the AAF, including the Ghana cedi -dollar exchange rate, inflation and the price of crude oil and natural gas as well as power purchase cost and demands forecast.
It said the increase for the third quarter was largely influenced by the Ghana cedi-dollar exchange rate.
“The Commission is certainly aware of the current challenges consumers are facing with the provision of electricity and water and that is why the Commission has decided to implement a much lower percentage, which is the previous tariff for the second quarter for year 2014,” it said.
It said without a marginal tariff increase the current load shedding situation could not be sustained and the situation might worsen.
The statement said the Commission would keenly monitor the current electricity and water situation to ensure that within the current challenges the interest of all consumers would be protected.
The AAF is a tariff mechanism that tracks and incorporates movements in key determining uncontrollable factors to reflect the cost of electricity and water every quarter. GNA
