The Executive Secretary of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, has attributed the failure of the Commission to automatically adjust utility tariffs in 2021 to the absence of a board.

It has been argued that the recent hike in utility tariffs by a whopping 27.15% and 21.55% for electricity and water respectively is due to the fact that in 2021 the PURC had failed to automatically adjust tariffs.

This had thus created the accumulated tariff adjustment Ghanaians are now expected to pay.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Dr. Ackah explained that the situation is no fault of theirs.

According to him, government’s failure to appoint a new board in a timeous manner had created the effects the country is experiencing now.

“We didn’t do any adjustment in 2021 because PURC did not have a board. Now the tariff is approved by the board. And 2021, in fact the board was appointed in November 2021, and without the board, the secretariat cannot come out with a tariff. It’s against our law. So that was the only reason we couldn’t do the quarter adjustments,” he said.

Meanwhile, he has stressed that the upward adjustment was made in such a manner so as not to burden consumers.

“So yes the utility should be able to serve but the consumer should not suffer too much. So we did a number of things again and when you come to the consumer's end, apart from all these breaking down, taking some out, reducing, zeroing and all that was to make sure that the impact of the tariff was not too much on the consumer,” he said.