The Executive Secretary of PURC, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, and a team from the Commission’s Head office and the Central Region offices embarked on a tariff education program at the Cape Coast Technical University. The event, which took place on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, in the Central Regional capital, Cape Coast, was to educate officials and students of the institution on the Tariff Setting Process of the Commission.
Dr. Ackah gave an overview of the Commission, highlighting its key roles and functions in rendering quality and efficient services to consumers; this was followed by a broad schooling on the PURC’s Tariff-Setting Process, where Dr. Ackah described how power and water supply is produced, transported and distributed and the need for the regulator to make sure there is an efficient and robust system in place to handle inefficiencies from the service providers.
In ensuring that the players involved in the supply chain are accountable, Dr. Ackah said that, there was a need for the Commission to set a fair price for the services rendered; in doing that, the Commission has a tariff-setting process, which consists of two windows, that is the Major Tariff Review (MTR) and the Quarterly Tariff Review (QTR). Dr. Ackah took the students through the major tariff review outlining the holistic approaches involved in scrutinizing the Operational and Capital expenditures of the Utilities with respect to the benchmarks in the L.I. 2413.
Mr. Leon Kpapko Acquaye, Head of Complaints and Data Analysis of PURC, took the students through the PURC Tariff Reckoner and the PURC Electricity Consumption Estimator (PECE) App; emphasizing the need for consumers to monitor their consumptions. He demonstrated how a customer can monitor and calculate their consumption rates by using these apps.
The Dean of Student Affairs of CCTU, Prof Charles Emmanuel Oppong, was elated that the Executive Secretary and his Team took time from their busy schedules to educate officials and students at the University. He assured the Commission that any time there is such an opportunity, CCTU was ready to host the Commission. The team from PURC Head Office comprised, Ing. Emmanuel Fiati, Director in charge of Water Services and Performance Monitoring; Alhaji Jabaru Abukari, Director in charge of Regional Operations and Consumer Services; Dr. Eric Obutey, Director in charge of Research and Corporate Affairs; Mr. Leon Acquaye, Head of Complaints and Data Analysis; Mrs. Deborah Bonney, Deputy Head in charge of Corporate Affairs; Ms. Maame Esi Eshun, Head of Executive Secretary’s Secretariat and Mr. Bryan Adaare, I.T. officer.