Political Strategist, Dr. Bernard Tutu-Boahen has questioned the Public Utility Regulatory Commission’s (PURC) decision to increase water and electricity tariffs effective May 3, 2025.
Speaking in an interview on TV3 New Day’s Big Issue on Monday, April 14, 2025, Dr. Tutu-Boahen averred that utility tariff increment over the years have not resulted in provision of quality service to customers.
According to him, per statistics by the PURC, electricity tariff have gone up by 18.97% and water tariff by 5.2% in the last nine months, however, customers have not experienced any improvement in the services provided by these institutions – ECG and Ghana Water Company.
“If we are going to see improvement in the quality of service that is being delivered then of course, it will not be bad, nobody will challenge it.
“But like I said earlier, these increases over the years have not translated into that desirable quality services that we so require,” he stated.
He added: “I feel that PURC more or less as an institution that is supposed to be protecting consumer rights and all that seems to be failing over the years.”
He emphasised that utility tariff hikes will not be concerned to the public if there are a corresponding improvement in quality of services to customers.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has increased electricity and water tariffs by14.75% and 4.02% respectively effective May 3, 2025.
This is contained in a press release dated April 11.
“The Commission, in their decision today at 6pm reviewed upward the average end-user tariff for electricity by 14.75% (See Table 2) and also 4.02% (See table 3) upward for water supply across board for all category of consumers,” the release said.
Dr. Tutu-Boahen argued that ECG and Ghana Water Company are experiencing poor management decisions, a reason for the loses being recorded by these two institutions.
“Why should these two institutions be making losses. I feel that there may be operational losses, I feel that the management over the years have not been up to the task when it comes to their decision to ensure that these two companies stay vibrant,” he noted.
