The Ghana Hotels Association and Ghana Progressive Hotels Association have expressed concern over the increase in water tariffs, asserting that this surge is significantly impacting their operational costs and plunging many industry participants into substantial debt.
Attributing these financial difficulties to the actions of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), industry players argue that, the hotel sector has been burdened with significant debt due to the inconsistent billing practices.
During a press conference held in Accra on August 28, 2023, the National President of the associations, Dr. Edward Ackah Nyamike said the predicament for hotels began in January 2023.
This, he said was when the PURC announced an 8.3% hike in water tariffs, which was meant to take effect from February 1, 2023.
Dr. Nyamike explained that this adjustment was supposed to result in a tariff increase from around GHC 11.2 per cubic meter of water to approximately GHC 12.3.
However, according to Dr. Nyamike, when the hotels received their water bills for February 2023, they were shocked to find that their tariff per cubic meter of water had surged to GHC 30. This represented an astonishing 167% increase, which starkly contrasted with the 8.3% rise initially communicated by the PURC.
In response to the irregularities observed in their billing, the associations lodged a complaint with the PURC. The regulatory body reacted swiftly, issuing a response in a letter dated March 15. In this letter, the PURC endeavored to rationalize the 167% increase, attributing it to an ongoing restructuring of the consumer categories by the Ghana Water Company Ltd.
Dissatisfied with the PURC’s explanation, the associations lodged a second petition with a veiled threat of staging a protest at the PURC’s office if the perceived erroneous billing was not rectified.
This move prompted the PURC to invite the associations to a meeting on March 31, 2023. Following this meeting, on April 5, 2023, the PURC acknowledged that the exorbitant billing was a result of misclassification during the tariff implementation. In response, the PURC directed the Ghana Water Company Ltd to reclassify all non-residential customers previously misclassified as ‘other commercial’ back to their appropriate non-residential consumer category.
Dr. Nyamike continued that the PURC instructed the Ghana Water Company Ltd not to disconnect customers in the non-residential and other commercial categories with disputed bills until investigations into the issue were completed.
While the associations awaited compliance with this directive, the PURC surprised them by announcing a new tariff increment and reclassifying hoteliers as part of the commercial category.
Dr. Nyamike consequently called upon the PURC to honor its previous directive to the Ghana Water Company Limited, urging them to revert the bills for February, March, April, and May to their correct categories. This misclassification, according to him, had resulted in substantial debts for the association members.
