Critically look into 148% increment proposal by ECG, UGBS lecturer
A lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr Alexander Amankwa, has described the proposal by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to get a 148% on electricity tariffs from August 2022 as unrealistic.
According to him, the power distribution company has been inefficient and provided unsatisfactory services to customers over the years, therefore, cannot make a demand for an upward adjustment.
Dr Amankwa further likened ECG's 148% increment demand to a wife who prepares insipid food for her husband and still comes back to ask for more money for 'chop' money for the same low quality food.
He, therefore, called the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to critically look into this proposal submitted by ECG as he opined ECG does not deserve an increment in tariff.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb on Monday, May 17, 2022, on the sidelines of a public hearing for a multi-year major tariff review in Accra, the lecturer said,
"You [ECG] cannot ask for 148%. That is something that is not real. It is not possible and I believe very well that, PURC will look at it critically and review downwards. If you judge from the concerns that came, it tells you that ECG is highly inefficient. Until that is done, there is no justification for an upward review of the tariffs."
"They should improve on service delivery. If there’s quality service delivery, people would want to pay more and I liken it to a wife cooking for the husband. If you soup is watery, bad, what is the justification for asking for asking for an increment in the chop money. What are you going to produce? In future, you will still produce watery soup and your husband will not be happy," he stated.
His comments come after the Electricity Company of Ghana on May 9, 2021, demanded an increment of 148% on electricity tariffs from August 2022.
The company submitted a proposal to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) asking for an adjustment in electricity tariffs to cover the period between 2019 and 2022.
ECG also proposed an average increase of 7.6% in tariff over the next four years to cover Distribution Service Charges (DSC) while attributing the high increase in the Distribution Service Charges to the gap that has developed over the years between the actual cost recovery tariff and the PURC approved tariffs, as well as, the cost of completed projects.
