The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has announced an upward adjustment in water and electricity tariffs effective May 3, 2025.
Under the new tariff adjustment, the tariff of electricity has been increased by 14.75 per cent and water by 4.02 per cent.
A statement issued by PURC on the new tariff adjustment in Accra on Friday and signed by the Executive Secretary, Dr Shafic Suleman, said the revision followed the Commission’s quarterly tariff review process for the first and second quarters of 2025.
It said the review was aimed at ensuring “revenue stability for utility service providers” while minimising the financial impact on consumers.
The statement noted that the adjustment was influenced by several factors, including the exchange rate between the Ghana cedi and the dollar, inflation projections, fuel costs (particularly natural gas), and the current hydro-thermal generation mix.
The statement said the Commission cited the need to recover 50 per cent of outstanding revenue—amounting to GH¢976 million—from previous quarters in 2024.
“This repayment obligation significantly influenced the upward adjustment. To mitigate the burden on consumers, the remaining 50 per cent will be spread over subsequent quarters in 2025,” it said.
The statement said Quarterly Tariff Review Mechanism was 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 the potential to cause outages of both electricity and water supply,” it said.
The Commission averred that 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,” stated the statement.
It said the Commission had concluded the regulatory process for the quarterly adjustment of electricity and water tariffs for the first and second quarters of 2025.
The statement explained that the regulatory process was 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 a total payment of the outstanding revenues from the previous quarters would have resulted in much higher increase in both electricity and water tariffs.
It said the Commission, being mindful of the current economic difficulties for Ghanaians decided to recoup only half of the outstanding debts.
“This has always been the careful balancing act the Commission has had to do to minimise the impact of tariff increases on livelihoods while ensuring that the utilities are well-capitalised to keep the light on,” it said.
The statement said the Commission would continue to implement the Quarterly Tariff Review in accordance with its Rate Setting Guidelines for Quarterly Review of Natural Gas, Electricity and Water Tariffs. And in doing so, the Commission will continue to balance the interest of both consumers and utility service providers.
The statement said the Quarterly Tariff Adjustment tracked and incorporated changes in four (4) key variables namely, the Cedi/ Dollar exchange rate, inflation, electricity generation mix, and cost of fuel (mainly natural gas) in tariffs.
The Commission said a key variable that contributed significantly to the 2025 quarterly tariff adjustment was an inevitable attempt to pay half (50 per cent) of an outstanding revenue of GH¢976Million carried over from the previous three quarters of 2024.
The combined effect of the cedi/dollar exchange rate, inflation and the payment of 50 per cent of outstanding revenues from the previous quarters in 2024, is that the utility companies are “bleeding” from serious under recovery.
The Commission’s decision will be published in the gazette in due course and will be available on the Com
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