PURC uses unorthodox means to meet IMF requirements in the energy sector – Minority
A minority in Parliament suspects that the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) is raising utility rates as a backdoor approach to meet International Monetary Fund requirements in the energy sector.
PURC on Monday, January 16, 2023, announced the increase in utility rates in the first quarter of 2023 effective February 1, 2023, despite acknowledging the current economic challenges.
While the final user’s electricity rate has increased by about 30%, water has also been adjusted up by 8.3 percent after the conclusion of the PURC regulatory process for quarterly adjustments.
In a statement signed by the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Mining and Energy Committee, Mr. Jinapor expressed the concern of minority groups that the decision will affect Ghanaians, especially residential customers.
“We also note that the increase is due to the strengthening of the Ghanaian currency (Ghana Cedi) against other major currencies. Recently, the Cedi has witnessed a free fall with the local currency being rated as the second worst performing currency in the world… This will automatically worsen the plight of already impoverished Ghanaians,” he said.
Mr. Jinapor also said that he has noticed an attempt by PURC to skew the generation mix in favor of thermal power as against hydro to create unfair price increases to the detriment of consumers.
He said the PURC is not a technical regulator and “therefore, it cannot arbitrarily skew the thermal/hydro mix contrary to the projections of the Energy Commission, which is the technical regulator of Ghana’s energy sector.”
“From the available data, all 3 hydro dams have witnessed a very high elevation at the beginning of 2023 and are therefore in a better position to produce more hydroelectricity compared to previous years. We are confident that we will produce hydro not less than 35% based on Energy Commission projections. We therefore reject the 26% Hydro mix used to calculate the new rate adjustment.
The minority group demanded that the PURC reject “these unorthodox methods, which, in all intents and purposes, are a backdoor approach to meeting IMF requirements in the energy sector.”
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