Former Power Minister and former Chairman of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has called for a significant reduction in the cost of electricity generated by the Bui Power Authority.
Dr. Donkor argues that, with the company’s current status, it should be able to sell power to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) at between 6 and 7 US cents per kilowatt-hour to support industrialisation.
He believes Ghana must rethink the pricing of electricity from legacy power assets, particularly the Bui Hydroelectric Generating Station, whose investment costs, in his view, should no longer justify relatively high generation charges now that the debt has been repaid.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The High Street Journal, Dr. Donkor argued that Bui Power should be treated as a legacy power producer, with the benefits of its largely settled investment costs reflected in cheaper electricity for consumers, particularly industries.
“Bui Power now should be seen as legacy power, and therefore the cost should come down drastically. They should not be charging ECG almost 11 cents per kilowatt hour,” he said.
His proposed generation price of 6–7 US cents per kWh represents a substantial reduction from the current tariff.
Checks by The High Street Journal reveal that under the PURC’s 2026–2030 Multi-Year Tariff Order, Bui Power’s initial 2026 bulk generation tariff was 122.9481 Ghana pesewas per kWh, equivalent to approximately 10.50 US cents at the exchange rate used for conversion.
The regulator subsequently reduced the tariff to 114.6172 pesewas per kWh in its second-quarter 2026 review, bringing the equivalent cost to approximately 9.79 US cents, or roughly 10 cents per kWh. This means the current adjusted tariff remains about 2.8–3.8 US cents above Dr. Donkor’s proposed range.
For him, however, the issue goes beyond Bui Power. It reflects the need for a broader efficiency drive across Ghana’s electricity generation and supply chain to bring down the cost of power and make the country more competitive as an industrial destination.
He argues that affordable electricity is particularly important if Ghana is serious about developing an integrated mineral industry, where the country moves beyond exporting raw minerals to processing and adding value locally.
Lower electricity costs could help reduce production expenses for mineral processors and other energy-intensive industries, improve their competitiveness and make domestic value addition more commercially attractive.
Dr. Donkor insists that Ghana cannot pursue ambitious industrialisation while businesses continue to bear high electricity costs. Efficiency gains from existing power investments must translate into cheaper electricity for the productive sectors of the economy.
