{"id":640854,"date":"2019-06-20T07:16:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T07:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"<br><div>\n<figure class=\"fff post-thumbnail\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><img class=\"post_layout_5_img\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghana-mma.com\/2019\/06\/Ben-Boakye.png\" alt=\"Consumers anxious; release new electri"},"modified":"2019-06-20T07:16:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T07:16:00","slug":"consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"fff post-thumbnail\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"post_layout_5_img\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/Ben-Boakye.png\" alt=\"Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now \u2013 ACEP to PURC\"\/><span class=\"featured-image-caption\"><br \/>\nBen Boakye, Executive Director of ACEP <\/span><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is worried about the delay by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to announce new electricity tariffs in the country.<\/p>\n<p>According to ACEP, the delay is creating anxiety among consumers especially those in the business community.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission was supposed to have announced new tariffs in February 2019 but <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #666699;\"><strong>deferred the decision<\/strong><\/span> to the end of the second quarter of 2019 which is expected to take effect on <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #666699;\"><strong>July 1, 2019<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The decision to maintain electricity tariffs, according to the PURC, then, was due to \u201ccritical emerging issues in the sector\u2026 which are expected to affect the final tariff setting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmongst others, the emerging issues are related to the planned relocation of the Karpowership Plant resulting in fuel switch savings from Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to Natural Gas. Secondly, reductions in the price of natural gas are anticipated due to ongoing negotiations by government. These matters are outside the purview of PURC but their outcomes are likely to have measurable impact on the Commission\u2019s decision,\u201d the PURC explained in February 2019.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jHyQ8bIGeeI\" width=\"697\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>But ACEP in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Benjamin Boakye insists that if PURC is bent on meeting the July 1 deadline, then it has to announce new tariffs as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe practice has been that new tariffs are announced at least two weeks prior to effective date. This is necessary to allow stakeholders to adjust their systems and budget to accommodate the new tariff. However\u2026 [barely] 11 days shy of the proposed 1st July tariff effective date, the tariff has not been announced.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cACEP does not expect the Commission to, within few days to the effective date, ambush electricity consumers with the new tariff which holds about 90% chance of upward adjustment. This is because doing so potentially distorts the plans of consumers significantly, particularly the business community whose investment decisions have been held hostage by the uncertainty in the expected tariff adjustment level,\u201d ACEP added in the statement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The policy think tank expects the Commission to be fully sensitive to the realities on the ground \u201cin order not to inject unnecessary shock into plans of consumers and, by extension, the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cACEP, therefore, calls on the Commission to communicate to consumers what its intentions are, as to whether it will extend the effective date of the tariff or immediately announce the tariff, to allow consumers time to absorb and adjust to the changes, whatever that may be,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Below is the full statement from ACEP:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>PURC MUST COMMUNICATE ITS ELECTRICITY TARIFF NOW, IF THE 1ST JULY EFFECTIVE<br \/>DATE IS STILL RELEVANT.<\/p>\n<p>The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is worried about the delay by the Public Utilities<br \/>Regulatory Commission (PURC) to communicate the tariff which the Commission announced<br \/>in February would take effect from 1st July 2019, following the mandatory major tariff review<br \/>consultations in January this year.<\/p>\n<p>In a press statement issued on 27th February 2019, the Commission stated that its decision<br \/>to postpone the announcement of the tariff to July was \u201c\u2026 due to critical emerging issues in<br \/>the sector which are expected to affect the final tariff setting. Amongst others, the emerging<br \/>issues are related to the planned relocation of the Karpowership Plant resulting in fuel switch<br \/>savings from Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to Natural Gas. Secondly, reductions in the price of natural<br \/>gas are anticipated due to ongoing negotiations by government. These matters are outside<br \/>the purview of PURC but their outcomes are likely to have measurable impact on the<br \/>Commission\u2019s decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The shift in effective date of the major tariff was therefore to allow the Commission to<br \/>accommodate the important variables it expected would influence the tariff.<\/p>\n<p>The practice has been that new tariffs are announced at least two weeks prior to effective<br \/>date. This is necessary to allow stakeholders to adjust their systems and budget to<br \/>accommodate the new tariff. However, today is the 19th of June (11 days shy of the proposed<br \/>1st July tariff effective date), yet the tariff has not been announced.<\/p>\n<p>ACEP does not expect the Commission to, within few days to the effective date, ambush<br \/>electricity consumers with the new tariff which holds about 90% chance of upward<br \/>adjustment. This is because doing so potentially distorts the plans of consumers significantly,<br \/>particularly the business community whose investment decisions have been held hostage by<br \/>the uncertainty in the expected tariff adjustment level. ACEP\u2019s interactions with key<br \/>consumers of electricity show that anxiety is already high within the business community and<br \/>expects the Commission to be fully sensitive to the realities on the ground in order not to<br \/>inject unnecessary shock into plans of consumers and, by extension, the economy.<\/p>\n<p>ACEP therefore calls on the Commission to communicate to consumers what its intentions<br \/>are, as to whether it will extend the effective date of the tariff or immediately announce the<br \/>tariff, to allow consumers time to absorb and adjust to the changes, whatever that may be.<\/p>\n<p>Signed<br \/>Benjamin Boakye<br \/>Executive Director<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ctx-article-root\"\/>  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ben Boakye, Executive Director of ACEP The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is worried about the delay by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to announce new electricity tariffs in the country. According to ACEP, the delay is creating anxiety among consumers especially those in the business community. The Commission was supposed to have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":640859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-640854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Ben Boakye, Executive Director of ACEP The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is worried about the delay by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to announce new electricity tariffs in the country. According to ACEP, the delay is creating anxiety among consumers especially those in the business community. The Commission was supposed to have [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\"},\"headline\":\"Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-20T07:16:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":815,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/\",\"name\":\"Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-20T07:16:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/20\\\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Ben Boakye, Executive Director of ACEP The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is worried about the delay by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to announce new electricity tariffs in the country. According to ACEP, the delay is creating anxiety among consumers especially those in the business community. The Commission was supposed to have [&hellip;]","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036"},"headline":"Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now","datePublished":"2019-06-20T07:16:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/"},"wordCount":815,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/","name":"Consumers anxious; release new electricity tariffs now - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2019-06-20T07:16:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/20\/consumers-anxious-release-new-electricity-tariffs-now\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}