The Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, has justified the decision by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to approve a 2.45% increase in electricity tariffs.
According to him, this was crucial and part of a broader government strategy to address the growing debt burden facing the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Mr Mahama made the remarks on the floor of Parliament on Friday, June 27, 2025.
He stated that although key economic indicators such as inflation, exchange rate stability, and fuel prices have remained relatively stable, the adjustment is necessary to help ECG raise enough revenue to sustain operations.
He was responding to concerns raised by the Minority Caucus over the increment and its potential burden on Ghanaians.
“Last year, there was an effort made to prevent the PURC from adjusting the tariff; due to that, there was no adjustment for the whole period. ECG is accumulating huge debt, and it has to be paid for, and if we do not adjust the tariff to enable ECG to pay, ECG will collapse. They won’t be able to buy the input needed to keep the generators on, and we are going to have power outages,” he said.
Meanwhile, he has informed the House that the Minister for Energy and Green Transition will appear before Parliament next week to address the House on the matter.
“The bill has to be paid. So if PURC is doing its work, I do not think there is a basis for saying that because we have improved the economy, it doesn’t mean that the debt at ECG will just be whisked away. The bill has to be paid partly by consumers,” he emphasised.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana