Electricity consumers to pay over 11% more
From the 1st of July 2019, consumers would be paying 11.17% more for electricity, according to an approved upward adjustment of tariff by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), announced on Friday June 21, 2019.
A press release signed by the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mami Dufie Ofori, said the new tariff increment is for recovery of total electricity revenue requirement for the regulated electricity market.
“The key objective of the tariff was to sustain the financial viability of utility service providers as well as ensuring delivery of quality service to consumers,” the statement added.
Mrs Dufie Ofori noted that the review was in sync with the Commission’s regulatory oversight mandate, thus, extensive technical and financial analyses of proposals by the various utility service providers in the electricity and water sectors were undertaken.
These service providers included the Volta River Authority, Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited, Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) and Enclave Power Company Limited (EPC).
The 2019-2020 Major Tariff Review Decision, the statement said, was the “outcome of prudent cost review and effective monitoring undertaken by the Commission.”
“As a major policy shift aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of Ghanaian industries, the Commission has eliminated the Maximum Demand Charge on industrial customers (Special Load Tariff-SLT Customers),” the Executive Secretary said.
It is, however, expected that this policy will result in some SLT customers experiencing savings in their overall electricity bills.
Meanwhile, according to the statement, the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) also submitted a tariff proposal to the PURC. Decision on that, however, would be announced in due course.
Earlier during week – Wednesday June 19, 2019 – energy policy think-tank ACEP had called on the PURC to release the new tariffs after its postponement from the initial February to July. The Centre had issued a press statement in that regard expressing concern over the delay by the Commission to announce the planned tariffs.
The Commission, in efforts to rope in significant variables it expected would influence the tariff, had postponed the effective date.
A press statement by the PURC released on 27th February 2019, had indicated that the decision to postpone the announcement of the tariff to July was “… due to critical emerging issues in the sector which are expected to affect the final tariff setting. Amongst others, the emerging issues are related to the planned relocation of the Karpowership Plant resulting in fuel switch savings from Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to Natural Gas.
“Secondly, reductions in the price of natural gas are anticipated due to ongoing negotiations by government. These matters are outside the purview of PURC but their outcomes are likely to have measurable impact on the Commission’s decision.”
Source: energyghana.com
