In its quest to engage and educate stakeholders on the operations of the Commission, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) organized a tariff education program for students of the Sunyani Nurses and Midwifery Training School in the Bono Region. The objective was to engage and educate thoroughly the participants on how the commission determines its major and quarterly tariff review (QTR) decisions.
The program was well attended with about 700 student Nurses represented from the first year to the final year, together with some tutors of the school. The Chairman of the program, who is also the Director of Regional Operations and Consumer Services at the Commission, Alhaji Jabaru Abukari, stressed the importance of using energy efficiently to prevent high bills.
The Executive Secretary of the PURC, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, in a presentation, explained the power and water distribution value chain and was highly interactive between the participants and the Facilitator. Dr. Ackah further explained to the participants, how the major tariff works and the various requirements before a decision could be made. He also reiterated the decision variables for the Quarterly Tariff Review (QTR) and the factors necessitating a review. He indicated that, financial viability of the Utilities was a key determinant to ensuring a reliable and sustainable delivery of power in the country.
The Principal Manager of Consumer Services and Monitoring at the PURC, Mr. Edmund Kwaku Tufour explained and demonstrated how the PURC Electricity Consumption Estimator (PECE) could be used to estimate a consumer’s bill and accompanying consumption at the end of each month. He entreated participants to inform their peers and family members about the existence of app on the PURC website, and how it can be beneficial to customers of ECG.
Other team members who accompanied the Executive Secretary were the Director of Research and Corporate Affairs, Dr. Eric Obutey; the Director of Finance and Administration, Mr. Wallace Duodu; PURC Regional Manager for Bono, Bono East and Ahafo, Mr. Patrick Antwi; Deputy Head, at the Research and Corporate Affairs Directorate, Mr. Charles Jojo Entsi; and the Administrative Officer at the Executive Secretary’s Secretariat, Mr. Ephraim Atubourah.
