The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has announced that the Ghanaian public will bear the cost of the recent increase in water and electricity tariffs.
GUTA has expressed strong opposition to the decision by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to raise water and electricity tariffs.
The PURC recently announced a 14.75% increase in average end-user electricity tariffs, along with a 4.02% rise in water tariffs across all consumer categories. These adjustments were made as part of the Commission’s quarterly review for the first and second quarters of 2025.
According to the PURC, the increases were necessitated by several factors, including economic and operational indicators — such as the cedi-to-dollar exchange rate, inflation forecasts, fuel costs (particularly natural gas), and the current mix of hydro and thermal power generation.
However, Mr. Clement Boateng, Vice President of GUTA, disagreed with the reasons provided by the PURC, describing the increases as unnecessary and detrimental to businesses.
He urged the government to refrain from arbitrarily increasing tariffs and instead focus on tackling corruption and recovering stolen public funds, rather than burdening consumers with the cost of inefficiencies.
“The new increment will collapse local manufacturing companies. Already, our local manufacturers are not competitive due to unfair trading practices,” he said.
“Should the government ignore our concerns and maintain the tariffs, we will have no choice but to pass the cost on to consumers. For example, I bought electricity worth GHS 100, which previously lasted three days. Following the increment, it now lasts just a day. As a cold store operator, I have no option but to increase my prices in order to stay in business,” he added.
Source: rainbowradioonline.com
