The Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) is creating new cost-efficient outlet formats that will allow consumers of electricity to establish the contribution of each gadget in their households or offices to the monthly tariff using their mobile phones or computers.

The PURC Electricity Consumption Estimator is a game-changer which will allow consumers to manage or control the usage of gadgets which contribute to higher electricity tariffs at the end of the month.

The estimator which is meant to help consumers to overcome high tariffs is already available on the website of the PURC and will be live on Google Play Store in the second week of July 2023.

It is an addition to the tariff reckoner released in September 2022—a calculator application to help guide utility consumers in their tariff purchases.

The Executive Secretary of the PURC, Dr Ishmael Ackah, briefing journalists at a forum on tariff education in Accra last Wednesday, stated that the estimator was designed to help consumers manage their consumptions.

“The estimator was launched but it is already on our website and from next week it will be available on Google Play Store for consumers to download,” he said.

He said PURC was hopeful that that application would help consumers to be efficient and conserve electricity by knowing which gadget was contributing to their tariff at the end of the month.

With this addition, he explained that the PURC had introduced two different applications to enable consumers to understand and manage their consumptions.

He said the reckoner would enable consumers to determine the actual utility units an amount could purchase while the estimator would further help consumers to see the real contribution of each gadget to the electricity tariff.

“We now have two apps: the first is the reckoner and the second is the estimator.

With the reckoner, if you know the amount you want to buy it tells you the amount to pay, but the estimator helps you to know the contribution of the gadget or device.

“So, in this instance, consumers will be able to determine how much the air-conditioner, fridge and iron contribute per month and when this is known it helps them to manage them appropriately,” he said.

Education

The tariff education, which was held at the University of Ghana (UG) campus in Accra, sought to educate, engage and collect feedback from students to help the development of a solid tariff structure for the country.

Some of the topics included the operations of the power producers and distributors, PURC and the regulations, as well as tariffs and their various structures.

It was part of an ongoing Greater Accra tour of which the commission has already engaged Ghana Water Company and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) offices in the capital.

Inclusion

The executive secretary explained that the PURC engaged trade associations, industries, businesses and other consumers through consumer clinics to set utility tariffs but often left out students who formed a greater part of the consuming public.

However, he said, the commission believed that it was more important for students to be engaged because some of them paid their own electricity bills, others also served as ambassadors to educate parents and guardians on the new tariffs.

“So, the forum helps most of them to ask questions and make contributions on the development of the tariffs. University of Ghana is the first educational institution that has benefited from this forum and we will extend it to nine other universities in the country,” he added.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline