Residents of Sokpariyiri accuse govt of pulling a fast one on workers with tariffs increment

Correspondence from Upper West

The announcement of tariffs increment by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, PURC, has been met with mixed reactions by the citizenry.

Whereas some think the timing of the increment is bad given the current harsh economic conditions in the country, others are of the opinion the adjustment in the electricity and water is just a

Read full articleclandestine move by the government to take back the COLA (cost of living allowance) the government agreed to give workers.

The PURC at a press conference on Monday, August 15, announced a 27.15% and 21.55% increment for electricity and water respectively. This was after Ghana Water Company Limited had asked for an increment of over 300% in end-user tariffs whilst ECG and NEDCO demanded 148% and 113% respectively. VRA and GRIDCO also made a proposal of 37% and 48% respectively.

According to the regulatory body, owners of small and medium size businesses will now pay lower tariffs than residential utility consumers will be required to pay, per the new billing structure.

With the current tariffs billing structure, all commercial entities including small and medium size businesses pay higher bills more than residential utility consumers.

This, it said, is to enhance economic development through preserving jobs and livelihoods.

When GhanaWeb visited Sokpariyiri, a suburb in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region to solicit the views of residents about the tariff hikes, most of those who spoke to us described the increment as a smart way to take back the COLA (cost of living allowance) government was giving to workers by way of the hikes.

They said it is a similitude of giving someone a gift with the right hand and confiscating it with the left hand.

A resident, Ibrahim Karky Tuorosung said: "Considering like giving COLA to workers in this country, you look at it it's 15%. Water increment - 21% (21.55%), electricity, 27.15%. So logically, you see that the COLA that government is about to give people, is telling you to add little to the 15% he (government) is giving to pay for water and electricity. To me, that's uncalled for. We're all putting our voices that government should consider at least reduce it (the percentages)."

"We've heard that government is going to add 15%, even this 15% we are not 100% sure that this month ending we're likely to see something of that sort. And more to the point too, this increment of water bill, light bill, in fact, it's going to affect our lives. What they said they have added to our salary, indirectly, government has taken it back," another resident, Mohammed Alhassan also argued.

Another resident known as Aliman said: "The impact of the recent increments of tariffs, the water and electricity is highly visible considering the extended family system we have here of which we have to take care of our parents, paying their water bill and light bill and our own (bills) of which we have separate houses. The light getting to 27(27.15%), the water, 21(21.55%) and we're taking COLA of 15% which is not continuous, or whose increment is not going to be a continuous one."

"I think that this has come at the wrong time considering the fact that the entire country...people are suffering, people are complaining, workers are complaining and lamenting how insufficient their salary is to them," Ibrahim Abubakar Wangara, also registered his displeasure.

He also charged ECG to go after government institutions to retrieve the huge amount of money owed them, instead of resorting to such increments that only aggravates the suffering of the masses.

Shameer who also spoke to GhanaWeb believes the tariffs adjustments is only going to worsen the economic situation of the citizenry who are already struggling to stay afloat in the face of the harsh economic conditions in the country.