Users of electricity in Ghana are to pay bills that are 14.75 percent higher than the current rates, government has announced.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), in an official statement issued on Friday April 11, said the Commission has approved the increased tariffs of 14.75 percent for electricity and further given approval that water should also be increased by 4.0 percent.
The new prices are to take effect from May 3, 2025 and are to cover all categories of consumers whether rich or poor, domestic or commercial.
The PURC explained in the statement, signed by its Executive Secretary, Dr. Shafic Suleman, that the increased tariffs could have even been higher than the current 14.75 percent but the Commission, being mindful of the current economic difficulties for Ghanaians did some considerations to avoid going higher.
Dr. Shafic Suleman explained further that the new tariffs were arrived at after the Commission concluded the regulatory process for the quarterly adjustment of electricity and water tariffs for the first and second quarters of 2025.
Dr. Suleman said the regulatory process is in line with the Commission’s Quarterly Tariff Review Mechanism outlined in its Rate Setting Guidelines for Quarterly Adjustment of Natural Gas, Electricity and Water Tariffs.
The statement explained that the Quarterly Tariff Adjustment tracks and incorporates changes in four key variables namely, the Cedi/Dollar exchange rate, inflation, electricity generation mix, and cost of fuel (mainly natural gas) in electricity tariffs.
“The Quarterly Tariff Review Mechanism is essentially meant to avoid over- and under recovery of revenues. Under-recovery has negative implications for the ability of the companies to supply electricity and water to consumers and it has potential to cause outages of both electricity and water supply.
“Over-recovery unnecessarily overburden consumers of electricity and water. This process, therefore, enables the Commission to maintain the real value of the tariffs over adjustment period”, the PURC statement noted.
