‘We had no choice’ – PURC justifies 18.36% electricity hike

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has justified the 18.36 percent tariff increment announced on electricity and natural gas.

According to the Commission, the decision was taken after its Quarterly Tariff Review meeting for the second quarter of the year 2023.

The PURC blamed the depreciation of the cedi, inflation, electricity generation mix, and the weighted average cost of natural gas as the factors that influenced the latest increment.

Director of Research and Cooperate Affairs at PURC, Dr. Eric Obutey in an interview with Citi News said the Commission was forced to increase the electricity tariff.

“We did only 75 percent of the exchange rate. This means there was a 25 percent under-recovery that we needed to recover. So if you add all this to it, the projected exchange rate that we use currently which is 12.70, all these factors combined led to an adjustment of the tariff and upward review.”

Meanwhile, a Member of the Energy and Mines Committee of Parliament, Dr. Rashid Pelpuo has blamed the government for the incessant electricity tariff increment.

According to Dr. Pelpuo, the government’s inability to effectively manage the country’s economy has compelled PURC to continuously increase utility tariffs.

“You cannot blame the people who do the increases because they want to make sure they continue to produce, that is why, I don’t want to blame the PURC but the inability of the government to maintain a good economic leverage that will give the Ghanaian the capability of paying off without these troubles we are going through.”