Business News of Thursday, 19 January 2023

Source: starrfm.com.gh

Push PURC to revise increase in electricity tariff – IES tells public

Executive Director of IES, Nana Amoasi Executive Director of IES, Nana Amoasi

The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has urged members of the public and interest groups to mount pressure on the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to revise the proposed increment in electricity tariffs.

Consumers of electricity will pay 29.96% more effective February 1, 2023.

But speaking to Starr News, the Executive Director of IES, Nana Amoasi insists the increment could have been less if PURC got its assumptions for the energy generation mix right.

“Between now and then what we can do now is to compel PURC to relook at its assumption and set them right. If they set it right, consumers will not be paying the 29% or 30% that has been set by the PURC.”

He added: “We need to get the PURC to understand that every Ghanaian is watching the space and it’s very important that they do the right things. Most of the time they get the assumption wrong. In 2021, it was projected that the Bui Power Plant will generate just about 501 gigawatts per hour. It turned out that it was able to generate 991 gigawatts hour of power which was about 40% improvement over the anticipated rate the PURC and the Energy Commission said. So they should go back to the drawing board.”