Court throws out VRA, PURC application

Europa 17:56 - 26 February 2016

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An Accra High Court has dismissed an application by the Volta River Authority and the Public Utilities and Regulation Commission (PURC) challenging the validity of a suit filed by the Consumer Protection Agency against increment in utility tariffs.

The two regulators have been ordered by the court to open their defence to the suit by the CPA.

The CPA in December 2015, filed a suit against the PURC, VRA and the utility providers seeking to restrain them from implementing the recent upward tariff adjustment of 59.2 percent hike in electricity.

According to the suit by the CPA the stakeholders in the power sector have failed to live up to expectations and so prayed the court to place an injunction on the implementation which was to take place on Monday 15th December 2015.

Among the reliefs sought from the court, the CPA wants “a declaration that the decision of the 1st defendant to approve a 59.2% increase in electricity tariff is unfair in the light of the persistent, irregular and unpredictable power outages pejoratively known as ‘dumsor’”.