By: Nyima Sillah
National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) on Monday announced the introduction of a new tariff which will take effect on 10th April 2023.
Revealing the prices of the new tariff in a press briefing held at NAWEC head office, Managing Director, Nani Jawara said the decision was taken a couple of weeks ago through NAWECs effort, the government, and their regulator, adding they have decided through consultations with other stakeholders just to make sure that the tariff they are going to determine is a through the reflection of the current situation of the market.
“This decision has been taken and we have made some small increases in both water and electricity in terms of the tariff. It is reasonable that we increase our tariff so that we can continue to assure Gambians of reliable electricity supply,” he said.
MD Juwara explained that for the past 8 years or more NAWEC has maintained the same tariff since 2015 and people are aware of the realities of the current market prices and that things are not the same all over the world.
“Globally we have seen unprecedented changes in prices and cost of materials, particularly in the case of NAWEC. Our major cost driver is fuel, lubricant, spare parts, and other materials.
There has been an unprecedented increase in cost, especially in the last two years which is a result of the impact of Covid-19 and also the recent Russian and Ukraine War,” MD Juwara pointed out.
According to him, the global energy sector is in crisis because the cost of inputs has jumped significantly and these are factors that are beyond their control, especially in developing countries like the Gambia.
However, MD Juwara noted that there has been a huge jump in all their major cost drivers particularly fuel and they (NAWEC) have been struggling to try to manage the situation but right now it is impossible if they want to sustain their operations.
“Most of our inputs are coming from outside and we have seen immediately after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, we have seen how all prices have gone up, we have seen how much we are paying as the pump price before, 2015 NAWEC used to buy per liter almost at 36 to D40 per liter, we have seen that now we buying pump price for D78 per liter.
He continued “Equally when the tariff was set in 2015 we used to buy heavy fuel parametric tone for about Four hundred and forty-four dollars per metric ton this has jumped from four hundred and forty-four dollars per metric ton to over six hundred and fifty dollars per metric tons, especially after the start of Ukraine Russia war.”
MD Juwara stressed that there has also been a huge jump in other material’s spare parts, and they have seen the inflation embrasure that everyone is facing in terms of foreign exchange loss, noting they are buying dollars in the market an average of about sixty-two dalasi ninety butut or sixty-two dalasis eighty bututs.
“Every month NAWEC is making huge losses in terms of foreign exchanges and these are certain issues that compounded our situation and there is no way we can sustain our operations if we maintain the same tariff,” he disclosed.
