Business News of Monday, 22 August 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-08-22Increment in water and electricity tarrifs will worsen our plights - Zaare residents lament
play videoThe PURC announced an increment in water and electricity tarrifs which takes effect Sept. 1
Correspondence from Upper East
The Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) announced an increment in electricity and water tariffs by 27.15% and 21.55%, respectively.
This is expected to take effect from September 1, 2022.
On the heels of this, GhanaWeb's Upper East Regional Correspondent, Sarah Dubure, gathered the reactions of residents of Zaare, a community in Bolgatanga.
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The residents claim that if the directive is put into effect, it will only make their current problems worse.
Mr Charles Apalayine pointed out that despite there being no pay raises, prices for products and services keep on skyrocketing.
"In fact, the increment of this utility bill is something unbearable to some of us. Look at it. There is no increment in salary, yet everything is rising day in and day out," he said.
The current situation, he continued, is the result of others' having free access to water and power and leaving accrued bills that were never paid.
Mr. Joseph Aleeba, also bemoaned that an average household's initial electricity usage rate was GHC20, but subsequently rose to GHC60.
He also alleged that residents paid an amount of GHC1000 to acquire meters for their households; adding that the new directive will bring severe hardship to many of them.
He, therefore, called on the government to intervene for them to take a second look at the intent.
Mr Titus Alika told GhanaWeb that the crime rate in their region has soared. Hence, he expressed the fear that the situation might get worse, as the implementation of the hike in tariffs would make life tougher.
He mentioned that a renowned psychiatrist recently revealed that the rate at which people were getting psychological problems was high.
Madam Fauzia Osman also lamented that the hike in water and electricity tariffs would deeply affect her because she was just trying to pick up the pieces in life after her business collapsed.
"Life is very difficult. Look at this big shop, l used to sell provisions, but my shop collapsed. So I decided to roast corn now. You know, the corn is only there during the raining season, so l can't even do this business forever," she told GhanaWeb.
She, therefore, pleaded with the government to support the likes of her, who invested in businesses that collapsed and are trying to start from scratch.
