The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has announced that electricity tariffs shall remain the same until the end of the second quarter of 2019 (June 30, 2019).According to a statement from the PURC, “the Commission’s decision on tariff changes will be announced in due course, to be effective July 1, 2019.”“The Commission’s decision is due to critical emerging issues in the sector which are expected to affect the final tariff setting. Amongst others, the emerging issues are related to the planned relocation of the Karpowership Plant resulting in fuel switch savings, from Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to Natural Gas.” The statement added, “Secondly, reductions in the price of natural gas are anticipated due to ongoing negotiations by the government. These matters are outside the purview of PURC but their outcomes are likely to have a measurable impact on the Commission’s decision.”The PURC said in the interim, it will also closely monitor the operations of Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited, which is expected to take over the operation of ECG assets on February 28, 2019. This is to establish PDS’ actual operational cost and any other efficiency gains in the running of the distribution network by PDS.