Report by Ben LARYEA
The Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) has held a day’s national stakeholders dialogue on upward adjustment of tariffs proposed by utility service providers to enhance its operations across the country.
The forum created a platform for players in the utility space to discuss and deliberate on issues relating to tariffs adjustments to enable service providers to operate effectively and efficiently to meet the needs of consumers.
Key among the stakeholders were Volta River Authority (VRA), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), GRIDCO, NEDCO as well as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Speaking at the forum christened “Public Hearing for the Multi-Year Major Tariff review (2022 – 2027)”, the Executive Secretary of Public Utility Regulatory Commission, Dr. Ismael Ackah urged players in the utility service space to continue to engage the regulatory body to draw up mechanisms to enable government come up with realistic tariffs to meet the daily operations of service providers.
He said the investment in utility operations comes at a huge cost hence consumers must take advantage of the forum and dialogue with service providers in a win win situation for their utility needs and to enable also service providers to offer quality service for domestic and commercial needs.
“PURC will continue to work closely with consumers and service providers and will ensure that there is transparency in service delivery at all tunes”, he said.
For his part, the Acting Chairman, Research and Stakeholders Management Committee of PURC, Mr. Patrick Nyarko said the forum is timely and have served as a common platform for all stakeholders to share views, issues and the way forward of tariffs adjustments.
He, therefore, urged all to make meaningful inputs to enable the Commission to come out with acceptable rates of tariffs to address the pressing operations of service providers to deliver quality services to consumers across the country.
Issues brought to the fore were illegal connections, delays in billing, faulty meters, accumulation of bills to consumers, intermittent power cuts, rising increase in bills, the lukewarm attitude of service providers in acquiring meters, debt on meters, and middlemen taking advantage of unsuspecting customers at their respective offices.
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