No tariff increases first quarter 2015
There will be no change in existing tariffs for electricity and water for the first quarter of 2015, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), has announced.
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It said the decision was arrived at after considering the movements in the variables that underpinned the Automatic Adjustment Formula (AAF).
A statement signed by its chairman, Dr Emmanuel Annan, and issued in Accra yesterday explained that the AAF was a tariff mechanism that sought to track and incorporate movements in key determining factors to reflect the cost of electricity and water every quarter.
It mentioned the cedi-dollar exchange rate, inflation, fuel mix, generation mix, power purchase cost, demand forecast, chemical cost and electricity cost.
“It is clear that two of the variables (crude oil price and the exchange rate) are pointing to a positive direction at a reduction and a stability respectively. However, the price of natural gas from the West African Gas Pipeline has increased due to the challenges being faced with the hydrology of the Akosombo, Kpong and Bui Hydro Electric Dams,” it said.
The statement said in arriving at a tariff decision, the commission always looked at a smoothering impact of the variables of the AAF and did not consider spikes that were associated with the movements of those variables.
It said the demand forecast, averaging 12 per cent, as it stood, was making the Volta River Authority (VRA) and other independent power producers procure more fuels to generate electricity to meet the growing demand and especially at the time of the year when consumers were using a lot of cooling agents and equipment to battle the change in weather conditions.
“While appealing to consumers to conserve electricity and water during the yuletide season, the commission is admonishing the utility service providers to create flexible, simple and accessible avenues for consumers to complain and also receive information concerning their service,” it said.
