Ghanaians should resist recent hikes in utility tariff

Pressure group, Mass Action Committee (MAC) has called on Ghanaians to forcefully resist the recent hikes in utility tariffs, which it has termed as ridiculous.

Effective July 1, 2014 customers will pay 12.09 % more for electricity and 6.1 % more for water they consume.

This follows the decision of the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) to review the tariffs upward for the third quarter of the year in line with the automatic adjustment formula.

But MAC says the increments are not justified especially in the face of the current economic hardships in the country and the poor services delivered by the various utility companies.

In an interview with Live News on behalf of the group, spokesperson, Atik Mohammed said Ghanaians need to be given some respite considering the economic condition in the country.

“We are living in very difficult economic times; these are not normal times where you can say that the incomes of Ghanaians are increasing, so it makes some sense for them to sacrifice part of their marginal incomes on some of these things. We are living at a time when people hardly get salary, especially those who are on government payroll their salaries hardly come on time and when they do they are mostly in arrears. We have a situation where businesses are folding up, people are losing employment, the times are really hard so the last thing Ghanaians expect is an increase in tariffs of water and electricity." Atik Mohammed asserted.

Atik Mohammed who doubles as a Policy Analyst for the Peoples National Convention (PNC) argued that Ghanaians are yet an improvement over the delivery of electricity and water since last time the PURC adjusted tariffs to warrant further hikes.

Describing the increase as improper and unfortunate, Atik Mohammed questioned the timing of the decision and averred that the hike will not in any way help solve the problems the country is facing as far as delivery of electricity and water is concerned.

“I think Ghanaians should be thinking about how to resist this. We’ve had to contend with so many increases without a corresponding change in the quality of service we get in respect of electricity and water." He added.

Authorities have assigned rising cost of operations as the reason for the recent increments, but Atik Mohammed contends that it is for this same reason coupled with harsh economic conditions that makes it more imperative to reduce the tariffs to affordable levels..

Meanwhile Consumer Rights advocate, Kofi Kapito has called for the implementation of policy that would ensure quarterly adjustments of public sector pay to correspond increasing utility tariffs

According to Mr. Kapito this would help reduce the increasing number of customers who illegally fiddle with their utility meters to avoid paying the right bill for their consumption.

Kofi Kapito who is the Chief Executive Officer of Consumer Protection Agency noted told the host of LIVE BREAKFAST CLUB morning show, Nhyira Addo that the hikes were justified, but admitted it would compound the already poor economic circumstances of many Ghanaians.

In his view, there is the need for the salaries of Ghanaian public sector workers to be also adjusted upward to commensurate with the hikes since the increases are going to affect all sectors of the country’s economy.