By Evans Worlanyo Ameamu
Keta (V/R), June 25, GNA-Some residents, including traders and small business operators in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region, have voiced outrage after the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) announced upward adjustments to electricity and water tariffs set to take effect from July 1, 2026.
The PURC on June 22, 2026, said electricity tariffs would be increased by 3.49 per cent across all customer categories, while water tariffs would rise by 0.85 per cent, with the adjustments forming part of the Commission’s quarterly tariff review mechanism.
The Commission explained that quarterly reviews track movements in the Ghana cedi-US dollar exchange rate, inflation, electricity generation mix, and fuel costs, especially natural gas used for thermal power, while the factors were beyond utility providers’ control but heavily influence operations.
Information gathered by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) revealed that under the new structure, residential electricity consumers using up to 30 kilowatt-hours per month would pay 89.93 pesewas per kWh, up from 86.9 pesewas.
Residential water consumers using up to five cubic metres would have to pay 598.54 pesewas per cubic metre, as compared to 593.49 pesewas previously.
Mr Mawuko Vondoli, a resident of Dzelukope, a suburb of Keta, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), expressed anger over the announcement and stated that households and businesses were still recovering from perennial tidal floods, rising food prices, and general cost-of-living pressures.
“The timing of this announcement is not appropriate, look, we are already suffering from the current high utility bills, and increasing it now will place another untoward hardship on most of we the vulnerable residents,” he said.
He described the hike as a cruel imposition on people already struggling with previous hikes and stated that the electricity bills were now one of the heaviest costs for individual households who depend heavily on electricity for various activities including storage of fishes in fridges.
Madam Adzoa Dzigbordi Ametepui, a seamstress and mother of four, said she does not know how to cope with another utility increase and noted that daily-income families have no savings buffer and the rising costs would push households deeper into poverty.
She said: “I heard that the PURC said it applied a three-month average inflation rate of 3.43 per cent between April and June 2026, down from 4.17 per cent, and that natural gas cost declined 1.58 per cent to $7.9708 per million British thermal units, which I think these drops should have triggered a tariff reduction or at least a freeze.”
She debunked the Commission’s defense of the adjustments as commitment to monitoring service providers and holding them to regulatory standards and stressed that the move would not ensures value for money and improved service delivery for consumers as stated by PURC.
Other residents the GNA spoke to cited erratic electricity supply, intermittent water flow, and aging infrastructure and described the situation as paying higher tariffs without better service while paying more for less.
Economists and analysts noted that utility tariffs affect inflation and purchasing power nationwide, while in coastal towns like Keta where fishing and trading dominate, energy costs directly determine income and food security.
They said that without targeted subsidies or social protection, repeated adjustments would risk deepening inequality with some suggested investing in renewables and better community engagement to build trust before future tariff decisions.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/Benjamin Mensah