Challenges Faced by Consumers of Ghana Water Company and the Way Forward: The Case of Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

The research assesses the challenges consumers of Ghana Water Company faced and the factors that determine consumers’ willingness to pay for improved water supply either from the company or private service provider. The study employed a multistage sampling technique in selecting respondents. Tamale Metropolis was purposively selected and was divided in to four electoral areas in which fifty respondents were selected from each area using systematic sampling through the selection of every fifth house in each area. Kendall`s W was employed to rank the identified challenges consumers faced for being clients of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) while logistic regression was used to analysed the determinants of consumers` willingness to pay. The results indicate that, consumers faced some challenges in dealing with the public utility company, though there is less agreement among the respondents. In ranking challenges faced by consumers, it was evidence that, high water charges were ranked as the most prioritized constrain with a mean rank of 2.61 and poor relationship between customers and the public water company was ranked last with mean rank of 4.72. Assessing consumers` willingness to pay for improved water supply indicates that about 75% of the respondents were willing to pay (WTP) twice the previous amount they used to pay and the mean willingness to pay was ¢67.30 (US$17.71) for monthly consumption. Also, it was observed that, Number of days' water flow from pipes and the income of respondents were significantly negatively related with willingness to pay whilst expenditure consumers made on alternative water sources was positively related with consumers` willingness to pay for improved water service. It was observed that, with time when all the variables in consideration remain the same, the willing to pay for an improved water supply is likely to rise as the constant term has a positive sign and is significant at one percent level.