The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has announced an increase in water tariffs to take effect from June 1, 2023.

The decision, the commission said was made in cognisance of the cost of electricity, increased volume or cost of chemicals for raw water treatment, exchange rate, and inflation.

This comes shortly after the PURC announced an 18.36% increase in electricity and natural gas tariffs for all consumer groups following its review of the second quarter of 2023.

This decision was taken to prevent prolonged power outages and the associated negative impacts on employment and livelihoods, while also trying to minimize the effect of the rate hike on consumers.

Implementation of the new rate for electricity also takes effect from June 1.

The Quarterly Tariff Review Mechanism was employed to take into account the changes in the key factors used to determine electricity and natural gas rates.

The PURC has attributed the latest increase in utility prices to the Ghana Cedis/US Dollar exchange rate, inflation, electricity generation mix, and the Weighted Average Cost of Natural Gas (WACOG).

“This review has become necessary to maintain the real value of the cost of supply of the utility services and to ensure that the utility companies do not under or over-recover costs"the Commission’s Executive Secretary, Ishmael Ackah said in a statement.

“While under-recovery has negative implications for the ability of the companies to supply service to consumers, and has the potential of causing outages of electricity, over-recovery unnecessarily overburdens consumers of electricity" the statement added.

To ensure that utility companies are neither under- or over-recovering their costs, the PURC believes that a review of prices is necessary.