Wa: Businesses express worry over increasing electricity tariffs

Some business operators in Wa in the Upper West Region, whose operations relied heavily on the use of electricity, have expressed worry over the high electricity tariffs, which is likely to ruin their businesses.

They said the high cost of electricity would lead to a high cost of production and a resultant high cost of the product, which would deter customers from patronising the products.

Mr Iddrisu Naeem, who produces aluminum doors and windows, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that they were struggling to recover from the dire impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their businesses and said the increment in the tariffs would worsen their plight and might collapse their business.

He said due to the impact of the COVID-19, the market was already bad saying, “if they increase electricity, the prices of the products will increase, and people will not buy our services”.

Mr Imoro Seidu, a sawmill operator, said he currently consumed between GH¢ 300.00 to GH¢ 400.00 worth of electricity a month to operate and wondered how much electricity he would have to buy after the increment.

“When they increase the lights now it means at the end of the day the profit that I will get, I will use that to buy electricity. Already the cost of lights is high. It's just because we have no other option, that's why we are in the business suffering”, he lamented.

Mr Hamid Muntari, who operates a welding and fabrication shop, told the GNA that they currently had to endure the high cost of raw materials for production and that buying electricity at high prices would worsen their woes.

“At first I used to consume GH¢ 50.00 a day and do a lot of work with it, but now when I buy GH¢ 50.00 worth of electricity, it cannot last for a day. The cost of electricity is already high, so they should help by rather reducing instead of increasing it”, he explained.

The Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) said it had received proposals from both the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Water Company (GWCL) for a possible increase in utility tariffs in the country.

The PURC said the utility companies have made a strong case for an increase in the tariffs to cover their operational cost.

---GNA