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Ghanaians will soon heave a sigh of relief following Government's decision to implement measures to cushion the citizenry and industries from the burdensome new utility tariffs which took effect this month. Vice President, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, who gave the indication said TUC and other organized labour have agreed on some measures to limit the impact of the increases in tariffs on Ghanaians. The Public Utility Regulatory Commission last week announced a 78.9% increase electricity, and 52% for water. Following the announcement of the new tariffs, various bodies, notably the Trades Union Congress (TUC-Ghana), the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Alliance For Accountable Governance (AFAG), the Progressive People's Party (PPP) amongst others have strongly condemned the hikes describing it as insensitive. But at a meeting on Friday between government, the TUC and other organized labour, it was agreed that to achieve cost-effective provision of utility services, a technical Working Group must be "constituted to examine possible scenarios and their implications for the sustainable and efficient provision of the utility services and the respective impact on the national budget". "Among the options to be examined were mitigation measures that would allow industry and consumers to adjust to any new level of tariff adjustment. It was also agreed that the Working Group will make proposals for the restoration of the Automatic Tariff Adjustment Formula." FIND THE PRESS STATEMENT BELOW A Government team led by the Vice President, Mr K.B. Amissah-Arthur, today met in a working session with stakeholders who have been affected by the recently announced utility tariffs to discuss the implication of tariff increases and the way forward. Present at the session were representatives of organised labour, the business community comprising Ghana Employers Association, Association of Ghana Industries and Private Enterprise Federation as well as the Utility Companies including Volta River Authority, Electricity Company of Ghana, Ghana Grid Company Limited and Bui Power Authority. It was observed that none of the stakeholders was happy with the levels of tariff announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission. After extensive and fruitful deliberations, the meeting agreed that the objective of improving the efficiency and viability of the utility companies remained paramount. In order to achieve cost-effective provision of utility services, a technical Working Group was constituted to examine possible scenarios and their implications for the sustainable and efficient provision of the utility services and the respective impact on the national budget. Among the options to be examined were mitigation measures that would allow industry and consumers to adjust to any new level of tariff adjustment. It was also agreed that the Working Group will make proposals for the restoration of the Automatic Tariff Adjustment Formula. Staggering utility tariffs to avoid sudden and large upward adjustments is also among the options to be examined. OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FLAGSTAFF HOUSE ACCRA. [FRIDAY, 4TH OCTOBER, 2013]