A member of Ghana Hotels Association, Denzel Kwesi Humpreys, has said that the hotel business will be affected adversely by the increase in water and electricity tariffs.
This is in the wake of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) announcing tariff increases effective September 1, 2022.
Tariffs for electricity and water are expected to go up by 27.15% and 21.55% respectively.
In an interview on JoyNews’ PM Express, on Monday, Mr Humpreys said it could make life difficult for the hoteliers.
According to him, the PURC could have done better in terms of the negotiation for the desired outcome.
When asked if the cost could be passed on to customers, Mr Humpreys said “you can’t obviously pass on bills to customers because at the end of the day then nobody will show up at your hotel and it is quite difficult.
“We have to make way for the rates that we are taking as of two years ago because you can’t just say okay electricity tariffs have gone up so my room rate will have to go up automatically. It is making life difficult to tell you the truth,” he noted.
He acknowledged though that if the right tariffs are not paid, supply of the utilities could be affected. A situation which is equally unpleasant, “at the end of the day if we don’t pay the right tariff then of course, electricity cannot be provided to us, so we need to weigh and find a better solution to this problem.”