Ghanaians will from today, Thursday, June 1, 2023, pay more for electricity and water tariffs as the increment announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURC) takes off.
PURC last month announced increased tariffs for water, electricity and natural gas.
The Commission (PURC) in a statement justified its decision to adjust tariffs in the second quarter of 2023.
READ ALSO: Water tariffs to go up effective June 1
According to the commission, the move is needed to sustain the operations of the various companies in the production and distribution chain of electricity.
“The second quarter tariff decision of 18.36% for electricity helps to fully recover 100% of the inflationary effect, 100% of the gas price effect and 50% of the exchange rate effect,” the commission said in a statement.
PURC also explained that the decision to raise water tariffs for the second quarter of 2023 was based on several factors.
READ ALSO: PURC increases electricity tariff by 18.36%
These factors include the cost of electricity, increased expenses associated with chemicals used in raw water treatment, the exchange rate between the Ghana Cedi and the US Dollar, and inflation.
The Quarterly Tariff Review Mechanism seeks to track and incorporate changes in key factors used in determining natural gas and electricity tariffs.
The PURC blamed the Ghana Cedis/US Dollar exchange rate, inflation, electricity generation mix, and the weighted average cost of natural gas (WACOG) as the factors that influenced the latest increment.
“This review has become necessary to maintain the real value of the cost of supply of the utility services and to ensure that the utility companies do not under or over-recover costs.
“While under-recovery has negative implications for the ability of the companies to supply service to consumers, and has the potential of causing outages of electricity, over-recovery unnecessarily overburdens consumers of electricity.