Electricity and water tariffs are to go up in Ghana by 103 and 96 percent respectively from May.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), which fixes and regulates tariffs, said Saturday it had rejected the more than 300 percent hike demanded by the Volta River Authority, Electricity Company of Ghana and Ghana Water Company.
A statement in Accra by the PURC Executive Secretary Stephen Adu, said residential consumers, who paid 4,000 cedis (about 55 cents) a month, will now pay a monthly flat rate of 7,800 cedis (about 1.08 dollars).
The utility companies had argued that the current tariffs approved in 1998 were below their production costs.
Consumers on the other hand, are clamouring for improved services and calling on the companies to end corruption and wastage.
The Commission justified the tariff increases citing the inability of the companies to meet their production costs and the adverse effects of the macro-economic environment last year.
It, however, explained that a phased approach would be adopted to attain economic rates and improved services.
The Commission asked Ghana Water Company to embark on a comprehensive rationing programme to ease water shortage.
Source: GhanaWeb
