Utility rates may be decreased, according to Ishmael Ackah, Executive Secretary of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), if the main drivers of price growth become stable.
He claims that utility rates may be adjusted downward if both inflation and the currency rate decline or even remain steady.
“So, our hope is for the exchange rate to remain stable or even fall if possible. Inflation would remain stable or even if it will go up, not so much like the June level. If some of these things happen, we will reduce the tariffs,” he was quoted by myjoyonline.com.
The current rate change, which will take effect on September 1, 2023, was justified, according to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).
The numerous considerations that were taken into account for the tariff adjustment were described by Dr. Ishmael Ackah.
“For water, the major driver, one is electricity. However, because we said the industrial customers would experience no increase, this time it didn’t have any effect.
“The (second) major driver for water is the cost of chemicals. So recently, they were using chemicals for water treatment, now what they have moved on to is what we call Colima, which is about two and half times more expensive than what they were using previously,” he said.
