PURC engages students on utility tariffs
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) says it has set out established benchmarks to guide utility companies to cut down on waste in their operations.
According to the commission, inefficiencies were one of the factors that had made utility services expensive in the country, and it would not factor such waste into the tariff approval going forward.
Speaking at a tariff engagement with students of the Cape Coast Technical University on the university’s campus at the weekend, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr Ishmael Ackah said it was important for the utility companies to work hard to attain the benchmarks, since it would be a major input in tariff adjustment in the country.
“The commission is committed to protecting customers from inefficiencies of utility companies as we are not just going to approve proposals for any upward adjustments without scrutinising such documents based on the required standards,” he said.
The engagement which was part of the commission’s regional tour, was to educate the students on the commission’s guidelines for tariff review and also address their concerns.
It was to ensure that the students acted as peer-to-peer or ambassadors of electricity and water conservation.
He explained that if inflation and exchange rate went down there would be a reduction, but if there was an increase in the other variables, prices were expected to witness upward adjustments.
Dr Ackah noted that students misused water and electricity, and this was the reason facility user fees paid as part of their fees increased regularly.
He explained that the PURC’s quarterly review of electricity and water tariffs was to reflect changes in macroeconomic variables such as inflation and exchange rate.
The next quarterly review he stated would be done in September, adding that the commission would take all variables into consideration before any upward or downward review was done.
He stated that the tariff adjustments were determined by several factors, including the price of natural gas, exchange rate, hydro-thermal mix, and inflation.
Dr Ackah explained that the quarterly review would go a long way in minimising the effect of changes in the macroeconomic and market-driven variables.
He further stated that “PURC per our guidelines and regulations, we are to do two adjustments, the major tariff adjustments and quarterly adjustments, quarterly adjustment is looking at mainly the exchange rate, inflation rate and energy mix.”
FROM DAVID O. YARBOI-TETTEH, CAPE COAST
