ERA board quizzed on new tariffs defiance

Members of Parliament have asked the electricity Regulatory Authority to withdraw the statement issued yesterday, defying an order to halt the charging of new tariffs.

The board of the Electricity Regulatory is appearing before the probe committee into the energy sector that has been overshadowed by reports of corruption.

Members of the committee yesterday questioned the authority’s management over why new electricity tariffs were announced before they could be approved by the board.

The MPs demanded for a copy of the approved minutes which the management failed to produce.

Though the committee directed that the implementation of new tariffs be halted, the regulatory authority hit back, saying Parliament does not have powers to determine electricity tariffs.

The committee chairperson Jacob Oboth Oboth has tasked the ERA authorities to explain the statement issued, which he says belittled the oversight role of Parliament.

MPs Elijah Okupa and Reagan Okum are demanding a clear explanation and extraction of the statement. Rukungiri Municipality MP Roland Mugume says Parliament has the right to protect the interests of citizens and warns that the hiking of tariffs could spark protests.

The authority’s Chief Executive Officer Dr. Benon Mutambi denies defying the committee, saying he only implied that retracting implementation of the new tariffs might be difficult.

According to new tariffs that took effect on 15th January, domestic power consumers are set to pay shs524.5 per unit compared to the previous shs385.6, while commercial consumers pay shs487.6 up from 358.6 per unit.

Story by Olive Eyotaru

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