Consumers in Ashanti Region resist proposed increment in water, electricity tariffs

Some residents in the Ashanti Region have asked companies providing utility services to reconsider their proposed increment on electricity and water tariffs.

Some noted that the services rendered by these companies were below standard and do not deserve any form of increment from the common Ghanaian in times of high cost of living coupled with inflation.

This comes on the back of proposals by the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ghana Water Company Limited to increase electricity and water tariffs by 148%, and 334% respectively to address what they describe as operational costs.

“The utility service providers should wait for some time before they increase their tariffs. My concern as a consumer is that things are not in order at the moment. For the type of service, they are rendering, it is not even convincing enough,” one of the consumers is reported by citinewsroom.com to have said.

Another consumer added that they misappropriate funds within the sector thereby running at losses and expect citizens to pay up.

“There are people whose salaries with the utility service providers are more than the work they do. They don’t do any work, but they get high pay, so they can’t use all the monies to pay themselves and ask the public to bear the cost.”

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, has, however, assured Ghanaians that it will not grant some of the demands made by utility providers.