Ghana: PURC Holds Capacity Building Workshop For Media Fellowship

Ghana’s Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has held a day’s capacity building workshop for a section of Ghanaian journalists to equip them with the knowledge of the role of the Commission.

The journalists, selected from various media houses comprising both electronic and print, are under the umbrella of the Commission’s Media Fellowship which was recently launched in Accra, the capital of Ghana.

They were taken through several presentations by officials of the Commission.

Alhaji Abukari Jabaru, Director of Regional Operations on Complaint Resolution Procedure, walked the journalists through the various steps that are taken before arriving at a resolution.

He said when a formal complaint is received from a complainant, for example, the first step the Commission takes is to visit the site of the complainant and conduct preliminary investigations.

After the preliminary investigations, the Commission begins mediation processes, if it becomes necessary, and finally starts a formal hearing where a panel is constituted to make recommendations to the Board for acceptance or otherwise.

A trend analysis of complaints lodged to the Commission and resolved from 2016 to 2021 showed that there was a decrease in the number of complaints lodged from 3,202 in 2016 to 2,713 in 2017, representing a 15.27 per cent decrease.

However, this increased to 5,226 in 2018, representing a 92.63 per cent increase.

The complaints again increased to 9,550 in 2019 by 82.74 per cent.

This increase, he noted, was a result of innovation introduced that allowed complainants to lodge complaints via WhatsApp.

He noted that another reason that accounted for the increase in complaints in 2019 was the problem between ECG and Kroboland.

There was, however, a decrease in complaints lodged from 9,550 in 2019 to 7,067 in 2020 representing a decrease of 26 per cent and this was mainly due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and its related lockdown of the country as well as restrictions on movement.

In 2021, complaints lodged with the Commission increased to 10,987 from 7,067 in 2020, representing an increase of 55.47 per cent.

He said about 10,701 out of the total complaints have been resolved.

The Director in charge of Regulatory Economics at the PURC, Dr. Simon Akorli, also made a presentation on PURC Tariff Setting.

He walked the journalists through the factors the Commission considers before arriving at a tariff for both water and electricity.

He noted that the biggest challenge facing the country, as far as utilities are concerned, is the tariff structure.

He said unlike in Uganda where the tariff has been structured in a way that makes both residential and industrial consumers pay the same rates for consumption of utilities, Ghana’s tariff structure is such that residential consumers pay less while industries pay higher.

The very interactive workshop ended with a presentation by Mr. Kevin Kwao, Head of ICT, PURC, on the Commission’s Database Management System.

Executive Secretary for the Commission, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, who opened the workshop, urged the participants to take a keen interest and learn.

He further called on them to work closely with the Commission for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com