TUC And Organized Labor Have Demonstrated Maturity But It Is Not Enough - Asamoah Gyamfi

A member of the communication team of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Asamoah Gyamfi upon the reduction of the electricity tariff from 78.9% to 59.18% (including all taxes, levies and charges) has patted the back of Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Organized Labor for the role they have played in ensuring the diminution. Following the increases of utility tariffs by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) in September, 2013, Organized Labor demanded the staggering of the tariff increases as a means of reducing the negative effects of the hikes on consumers. A ten-day ultimatum was issued by Organized Labor to Government and the PURC to meet its demand or face the wrath of workers. Subsequently, Government constituted Technical Working Group (TWG) to make recommendations for consideration, taking into account Organized Labor�s demands. Upon the demand of TUC and Organized Labor, Government has finally subsidized the cost of electricity until full cost recovery is achieved. Subsequently, the starting point of the average electricity tariff increase has reduced from 78.9% to 59.18% (including all taxes, levies and charges) which represents a reduction of 25%. Government has therefore, agreed to pay about GH₵410 million to the utility companies to ensure a steady supply of electricity. It is this effort that the NPP communicator has extolled on Hot Fm the effort put up by the TUC and the Organized Labor for seeing to the reduction of the electricity tariff to an appreciable percentage; urging that the same move must be carried out on water tariff. ���they have demonstrated that they are matured people and they have also exercised their democratic right to show how serious they demand of the government to reduce the tariff of electricity��the effort of TUC and Organized Labor is laudable to see the reduction of electricity tariffs, but they need to make sure that water tariff too is reduced,� he applauded. He therefore established the fact that Ghanaians have always shown interest in paying the necessary utility tariffs increment; averring that with the current economic situation, the one-time tariff increment was outrageous. Meanwhile upon TUC�s recommendation, PURC will start the implementation of the Automatic Tariff Adjustment Formula (ATAF) from January, 2014 along with the agreed plan to recover the full cost of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.