Dr. Eric Obutey, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission‘s (PURC) Director of Research and Corporate Affairs, claims that the commission has already addressed the issues raised by the Ghana Hotels Association.
The Ghana Hotels Association had petitioned the PURC to overturn the 167 percent tariff adjustment made in February to the initial 8.7 percent, which they claimed was adversely affecting their operational costs.
Dr. Obutey clarified, saying “that is an issue that is longstanding, an earlier tariff, not the current one. The earlier ones they are referring to—the 167% and 8.3%—are the ones that they petitioned us about earlier; we have talked about them. I don’t understand why the problem is coming up again at this point after all that we have done to try to fix it. They have given the petition to the commission, which will review it and get back to them.”
“It’s true that the commission has addressed these issues. They submitted a petition to the commission regarding the first and second quarter’s tariffs. We have engaged them in conversation, at a specific point, and in interactions with the utility companies. Therefore, it is a problem that we have attempted to solve and has nothing to do with the current tariff. I believe that problem has been resolved, to the best of my knowledge”, he added.
On August 23, 2023, the PURC provided justification for the 4.22% increase in electricity tariffs for all non-lifeline residential customers, which will take effect on September 1, 2023.
In its third-quarter utility review, the utility regulator approved an increase in electricity rates of 4 point 22 percent and 1 point 18 percent, respectively, for all non-lifeline residential customers and all other categories of water consumers.
According to Dr. Obutey, the PURC took into account two factors: bridging the utility gap between the two consumer streams and preserving the true value of the tariffs.
