Tariff adjustment must be tied to workers income

Participants at a roundtable meeting on energy tariff, sponsored by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), have asked that upward adjustment of tariff must commensurate with income levels of workers.

"Wages are not realistic and cannot meet the rising living costs including tariff", a PURC release to the GNA on Wednesday said. Participants, who were made up of PURC officials and members of the steering Committee of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) discussed the commission's transitional plan for electricity rate adjustment and quality of service issues.

The statement said the meeting observed that subsidies within the sector have not favoured the poor and the vulnerable and must be looked at critically to ensure that they are beneficial to those for whom it is intended. Individual members of the TUC expressed misgivings about poor customer services of the utilities.