The 18.36 percent increase in electricity and natural gas rates issued by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has been explained. The Commission claims that the choice was made following its Quarterly Tariff Review meeting for the second quarter of 2023.The current rise was allegedly affected by the cedi’s devaluation, inflation, the mix of power generation, and the weighted average price of natural gas, according to the PURC.In an interview with Citi News, PURC’s Director of Research and International Affairs, Dr. Eric Obutey, claimed that the Commission was compelled to raise the power 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.”
Dr. Rashid Pelpuo, a member of the Parliament’s Energy and Mines Committee, has accused the administration of being to blame for the ongoing increase in the price of energy.
Dr. Pelpuo claims that the government’s incapacity to efficiently manage the economy of the nation has forced PURC to regularly raise utility rates.
“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.”
