Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, has defended the recent 2.45% electricity tariff hike approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC). According to Ayariga, the increase is crucial to prevent the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) from collapsing under its growing debt burden.
Speaking in Parliament, Mr. Ayariga explained that the adjustment is necessary to enable ECG to generate enough revenue to sustain its operations. “Last year, there was an effort made to prevent the PURC from adjusting the tariff; due to that, there was no adjustment for the whole period. ECG is accumulating huge debt, and it has to be paid for, and if we do not adjust the tariff to enable ECG to pay, ECG will collapse. They won’t be able to buy the input needed to keep the generators on, and we are going to have power outages,” he stated.
Mr. Ayariga’s comments came in response to concerns raised by the Minority Caucus, who questioned the need for the increase despite stable macroeconomic indicators. He assured that the Minister for Energy and Green Transition will appear before Parliament next week to provide further clarity on the tariff review process. “The bill has to be paid. So if PURC is doing its work, I do not think there is a basis for saying that because we have improved the economy, it doesn’t mean that the debt at ECG will just be whisked away. The bill has to be paid partly by consumers,” he emphasized.
The tariff hike, effective July 1, 2025, has received mixed reactions from stakeholders.
