As the new utility tariffs announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) loom, with electricity rising by roughly 9.8 percent and water by about 15.9 percent effective January 1, 2026, many Ghanaians are asking: Should honest consumers be forced to bail out chronic mismanagement?
At a press briefing on December 8, 2025, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Energy Committee, George Kwame Aboagye, described the hikes as “an unacceptable shock to struggling households and businesses,” calling them an “act of exploitation rather than leadership.”
He stressed: “Our position remains firm and non‑negotiable. This tariff must be reversed immediately, and measures must be taken to protect consumers and sustain businesses. Ghanaians deserve relief, not repeated shocks.” The criticism is echoed by civil‑society bodies, business associations, and workers alike, all warning that raising tariffs while systemic inefficiencies persist amounts to punishing the public for problems they did not create. Mr. Aboagye added, “The government has chosen the lazy path of shifting its failures onto already suffering consumers.”
Inefficiency and Waste, Not Costs, Drive the Crisis
The case against allowing ECG and GWCL to pass their failures onto consumers is strong. For GWCL, the non‑revenue water (NRW), water produced but not billed, remains unacceptably high. According to recent disclosures, only 48 percent of treated water produced by GWCL actually reaches consumers; the rest is lost through pipeline leakages, illegal connections, and other structural inefficiencies.
In the Central Region alone, the water utility admitted that over 41 percent of water produced is lost to theft and leakage. Similarly, in 2025, GWCL uncovered illegal connections and meter bypasses amounting to more than GH¢4.4 million in just six weeks.
For ECG, critics argue that the company’s persistent technical and commercial losses, weak revenue collection, and poor financial discipline, rather than external cost pressures, are at the root of the crisis.
Tariff Hikes Erode Wages and Squeeze Households & Businesses
The timing of the tariff increases further deepens public anger. The hikes coincide with a 9 percent increase in the national minimum wage, meaning that the marginal wage gains for workers are immediately eroded by increases in basic utilities.
Business operators are equally concerned. The Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG) says the increases are “unacceptable, unjustifiable, and insensitive,” calling them a direct punishment on households and businesses already grappling with rising costs.
If unchecked, the tariff hikes risk pushing some small and medium enterprises into closure, triggering job losses and slowing economic activity, an outcome at odds with national development goals.
Rather than approving tariff hikes as a knee‑jerk reaction to financial stress at ECG and GWCL, regulators and the government should demand accountability, reforms, and tangible improvements. Specifically:
- A full, public audit of ECG and GWCL’s operations, finances, and procurement practices.
- A robust, time‑bound plan to reduce losses (non‑revenue water, technical losses, illegal connections), with quarterly performance targets.
- Enforcement of anti‑theft policies, meter reforms, and stricter penalties for illegal connections or meter tampering.
- Improved transparency in billing and service delivery, to restore public trust and ensure paying customers are not penalized.
Civil‑society actors such as the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) and Africa Water Justice Network (AWJN) have already rejected proposals for massive tariff hikes, including a 280 percent water‑tariff increase proposed in 2025, arguing that structural inefficiencies, exploitative contracts, and poor governance must be addressed first.
These groups warn that when regulation is used to shield mismanagement by shifting the burden onto citizens, the human right to water and electricity becomes subordinate to arbitrary cost‑recovery schemes.
In Ghana today, many citizens are barely holding on: wage increases are modest, inflation is biting, and business margins are thin. Raising utility tariffs under such conditions risks deepening hardship and stifling growth.
Ghana’s new electricity and water tariffs risk punishing consumers for ECG and GWCL’s inefficiencies. Losses, theft, and mismanagement, not costs, drive the crisis. Citizens and businesses call for accountability and reforms, not higher bills.
