The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has urged the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to immediately reverse its recent decision to increase utility tariffs.
He warned that industry players and consumers alike will resist the move if it stands.
The PURC recently announced a 14.75% increase in electricity tariffs and a 4.02% rise in water tariffs, citing factors such as exchange rate volatility, inflation, fuel costs—particularly natural gas—and the current hydro-thermal power generation mix.
The hike follows the Commission’s routine quarterly tariff review for the first half of 2025.
However, Duncan Amoah insists the increases are unjustified and unreasonable, especially given ongoing issues within utility service providers like the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
“There are serious accountability lapses. We’re talking about nearly 2,000 unaccounted-for containers—worth hundreds of millions of cedis. These procurement failures raise questions about how funds are managed,” he said.
He criticized the justification for the hikes, pointing out the contradiction: “How can we claim there’s no money to sustain operations when such large sums remain unaccounted for? Then we pass the cost onto the consumer? It simply doesn’t add up.”
Amoah warned that any attempt to shift the burden onto already-strained consumers would be met with strong resistance:
“Coming back to the consumer to insist we pay more, I can assure you will be fiercely resisted.”
