Ghanaians cry as PURC increases electricity tariff by 29.96%, water by 8.3%

In a statement on Monday, January 16, 2023, the commission said the new tariffs, which are for the first quarter of the year will take effect from February 1, 2023.

“The Commission, therefore, decided to increase the average end-user tariff for electricity by 29.96% across the board for all consumer groups (Table i). The average end-user tariff for water has also been increased by 8.3% (Table 2). The Commission, however, approved varying rate adjustments including some reductions for selected industrial and commercial consumers as part of the ongoing restructuring of the existing water rate structure,” the statement read in part.

“The combined effect of the Cedi/US Dollar exchange rate, inflation and WACOG is that the utility companies are significantly under-recovering and require an upward adjustment of their tariffs in order to keep the lights on and water flowing.”

The commission acknowledged the prevailing economic hardship in the country but said that the increments became necessary for the sustainability of the water and electricity companies and uninterrupted service provision.

“The PURC is equally mindful of the current difficult economic circumstances but notes that the potential for outages would be catastrophic for Ghana and has to be avoided. The PURC, therefore, sought to balance prevention of extended power outages and its deleterious implications on jobs and livelihoods with minimizing the impact of rate increases on consumers”.

Meanwhile, the tariff increments have sparked agitations from some Ghanaians who say it will worsen the excruciating economic crisis they are going through.

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has asked that the implementation of the new tariffs be suspended to save industries from folding up as they are already struggling to survive.