Workshop For Water and Electricity Tariff

A one-day workshop on tariff study on electricity and water services in The Gambia was last Tuesday 3rd June 2009, held at the Sheraton Hotel in Brufut.

The objective of the study was to develop a tariff system for electricity, water and sewage, which are reflective of the efficient costs of providing them.

Convened by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the forum among others, availed stakeholders the opportunity to dilate on the findings and recommendations of electricity and water tariffs study.

In his remarks, Chairman of PURA Board of Commissioners, Mr. Abdoulie Touray said the last few years had seen a remarkable increase in private sector participation in the telecoms and electricity markets, which PURA regulates. This, he added, has resulted in unprecedented improvement in service delivery and access for many Gambians to electricity and telecommunications services, respectively.

Touray stated that through this study, PURA and NAWEC would be able to evaluate annual tariff movements and adjust them, depending on variations in input costs, such as fuel prices.

"The study will also put in place a procedure for a tariff approval process, annual reviews and an incentive based performance review system to encourage efficiency", Mr. Touray said.

For his part, Mr Alagie B. Gaye, Director-General of PURA said the study commenced in January of this year, with the main objective of facilitating the implementation of tariff guidelines and models for unbundled generation, transmission and distribution tariff in line with the spirit of the Electricity Act, to ensure competition and sustainable supply of electricity and water services in The Gambia.

"A key mandate of PURA as enshrined in the PURA Act and other sector specific legislations in the electricity, water and communications markets is to regulate the prices charged by service providers", Mr. Gaye concluded.