Electricity tariffs will go up by 34% and not 27.1% – Edward Bawa
Edward Abambire Bawa, Member of Parliament for the Bongo Constituency in the Upper East Region, has maintained the minority’s assertion that most Ghanaians will pay 34% more for power than the 27.15% published by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).
He urged the PURC to be open and honest with Ghanaians, noting that it has a financial impact on households.
Mr. Bawa, who is also a member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy committee, told Eyewitness News that at the mid-year budget review, the government said unequivocally that an unexpected windfall of about $500,000 from Ghana’s share of petroleum resources had accrued.
As a result, he urged the Akufo-Addo administration to step in and spare Ghanaians from additional economic hardship.
“If you perform the simple math, you would see that the rise is not simply 27.1%, but 34%, yet most Ghanaians believe that the energy cost has increased by 27%.” It is not true that customers would pay the 27% for the residential rate.”
He argued that because a huge proportion of Ghanaians are over the poverty level, the average Ghanaian will face the burden of this increase.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission announced on Monday a 27.15% hike in power tariffs and a 21.55% increase in water tariffs, both of which will go into effect on September 1, 2022.
On August 15, the opposition NDC published a statement to refute what it called the PURC’s deceptive facts.
“A thorough look at the tariff structure as stated indicates that all residential users who fall between the 0-300 kWh category have experienced a price rise from GHp/kWh 65.4161 to GHp/kWh89.0422, indicating an increase of about 34%,” according to one line of the statement.
