NDC Communicator: PURC Is Not Telling Ghanaians The Truth

Operations of Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) has been chastised by a member of the communication team of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) for bedding with the Utility Service Providers to make life unbearable for Ghanaians with the current tariffs increment. Gabby Assumeng opined that there is no conviction justifying for the tariff increment, because to him one major factor which the electricity providers were seeking to increase the tariff was the unavailability of crude oil to power their thermal plants to generate electricity for supply. Speaking on Okay FM he averred that; �PURC is not telling Ghanaians the truth with all the justifications for the tariff increment because the crude oil which was the major problem for the regular supply of power has been taken care of by the restoration of the West African Gas Pipeline�. He again discredited the justification for the tariff increment with the fact that the Utility Service Providers do not have any business relying on the old proposal which was put before the Regulatory Commission when the country was dependent on crude oil to generate power. The NDC communicator however finds the reason for the current tariff increment bizarre since several alternatives with the existence of Bui Dam Hydro and Takoradi T1 to T3 have been made available to supply power to consumers. In view of the old proposal which the PURC granted the request of the Utility Service Providers, Mr. Assumeng said that the Regulatory Commission should have accepted another proposal from the providers because it is a fact that almost all the thermal plants are in operation. Based on the proposal, he wondered how PURC could increase electricity tariffs to 80% with all the economic, social and political implications involved; opining that �PURC wants to destabilize this country because they have sided with Utility Service Providers instead with the consumers�. To him, countries are created for human beings to live and services are established to serve the people to ease their plight and not to worsen their living conditions.