Government reconstitutes PURC board ahead of electricity tariff cuts

Government has reconstituted a nine-member governing board to stir the affairs of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).

The board is chaired by Michael Opam, a technical Adviser at the Ministry of Energy.

This comes barely two weeks after the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, recommended to the Commission the review of electricity tariffs in the country.

Government has promised to reduce electricity tariffs by between 13 and 21 percent in the coming days.

But some analyst including Frankling Cudjoe, President of policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, called on government to tread cautiously in order not to balloon the debt stock in the energy sector.

“There is a debt profiling known as ESLA in place, and we ought to be careful because we are not out of the woods yet, when it comes to our generating capacity. The fact that some persons do not pay the tariffs on time, the fact that there are technical and commercial losses, this may as well affect the debt restructuring procedure,” he added.

Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, has accused the government of trying to usurp the mandate of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), by announcing an average reduction of between 13 and 21 percent in electricity tariffs for residential and industrial consumers.

President Akufo-Addo has asked the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission, PURC, not to hesitate to sanction any Public Utility Service Provider who fails to adhere to rules and regulations.

Inaugurating a Nine-Member Board for the PURC, at the Flagstaff House, President Akufo-Addo said the board should not succumb to any form of pressure or control by any authority as it is an independent body.

He said while government works on clearing the energy sector debts by the first quarter of 2018, the Commission must endeavour to protect the interest of consumers.

The Board has Michael Opam as Chairman. The members are Maame Dufie Ofori, Ismael Edjekumhene, Dr. Yaw Adu Gyamfi and Daniel Owusu Koranteng.

The rest are Ebo Quargrine, Professor Joe Amoako Tuffour, Emmanuel Sector and Dora Oppong.

President Akufo-Addo indicated that the PURC has the mandate to among other things regulate activities of utility service providers, examine and approve rates chargeable for services and protect the interest of consumers.

He however bemoaned the fact that the public sees the PURC as defendants of service providers rather than consumers.

He tasked the board to change this perception and work assiduously to provide cost effective utility to the public.

The Chairman of the Board, Michael Opam who is an Energy Expert expressed gratitude to the President for the confidence reposed in them.

Source: citi fm