Electricity tariffs to go up by 34% – Edward Bawa hints

The Member of Parliament for the Bongo Constituency in the Upper East Region, Edward Abambire Bawa has reiterated the minority’s claim that most Ghanaians will be paying 34% more for consuming electricity instead of the 27.15% announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).

He called on the PURC to be transparent with Ghanaians, stating that it has a budgetary implication on households.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Bawa who is also a member of the Mines and Energy committee of Parliament, recalled that during the mid-year budget review, government indicated clearly that an unexpected windfall of about $500,000 from Ghana’s share of petroleum resources had accrued.

He thus called on the Akufo-Addo government to intervene and save Ghanaians from further economic plights.

If you do the simple mathematics you will know that the increment is not just 27.1% but 34% and most Ghanaians are under the impression that the electricity tariff has increased by 27%. It is not true that for the residential tariff, consumers will pay the 27%”.

He insisted that a large number of Ghanaians are above the lifeline point, so the ordinary Ghanaian would bear the brunt of this increment.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission on Monday announced a 27.15% increase in tariff for electricity and 21.55% increase in water tariff, which will take effect on September 1, 2022.

The opposition NDC on August 15 issued a statement to debunk what it described as misleading information by the PURC.

A paragraph of the stament hinted that: “A critical look at the tariff structure as announced reveals that all residential consumers who fall between 0-300 kWh bracket have witnessed a price increase from GHp/kWh 65.4161 to GHp/kWh89.0422, representing an increment of almost 34%.”

Tarrif