George Kwame Aboagye flanked by his colleagues
The Minority in Parliament has rejected the latest upward adjustment in electricity tariffs, describing the cumulative hikes as “malicious, unjust, and destructive” to struggling households and businesses.
Addressing journalists in Parliament yesterday, the Ranking Member on the Energy Committee and Member of Parliament (MP) for Asene-Manso-Akroso, George Kwame Aboagye, who was flanked by his colleagues, accused the government of worsening the economic hardships facing Ghanaians through what they called reckless and insensitive tariff policies.
According to the caucus, electricity tariffs have surged by 28.14% within a short period, despite what they described as persistent inefficiencies and losses within the power sector.
The Minority said it was unacceptable for government to impose higher costs on consumers when technical and commercial losses remain at 32%, a situation they said drains the sector of between US$80 million and US$90 million based on current energy pricing.
With the country’s normal demand averaging 3,500MW and peak demand recently reaching 4,080MW, the MPs argued that the scale of losses, which is equivalent to between 1,120MW and 1,305MW, reflects a severe managerial failure that government has refused to confront.
“Why does the government ignore this reality and instead impose measures that further impoverish Ghanaians?” the Ranking Member asked.
“Instead of fixing the system, the government has chosen the lazy path of shifting its failures onto already suffering consumers,” he asserted.
The Minority warned that the new tariff adjustments would erode the modest 9% wage increase approved for workers for 2026, rendering households more vulnerable at a time when inflation, rising food prices and business contractions already burden the population.
They further outlined a series of consequences that, in their view, would follow if government failed to withdraw the tariff hikes.
These include deepening utility poverty, the collapse of small and medium-sized enterprises, rising unemployment as industries scale down, declining productivity, and a general intensification of economic hardship for workers and families.
“These tariff hikes are not reforms; they are punishment. They are not solutions; they are symptoms of failed leadership and poor policy choices,” the caucus stressed.
The Minority insisted that the government must immediately halt and reverse the increases, arguing that real reforms must focus on reducing losses, improving revenue collection, and strengthening management practices within the energy sector.
They pledged to use every legitimate parliamentary tool to demand fairness, transparency and accountability in how the nation’s utilities are run.
“Our position remains firm and non-negotiable. Ghanaians deserve relief, not repeated shocks. They deserve leadership, not exploitation. And we will continue to hold this government accountable and defend the rights of the people,” the Ranking Member declared.
TUC Demands Immediate Suspension
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has also demanded an immediate suspension of the tariff increases, citing serious breaches in the consultative process with the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).
At a briefing following a leadership meeting yesterday, the union expressed outrage at the decision to raise electricity tariffs by 9.8% and water tariffs by 15.9%, insisting that the process leading to the announcement was neither transparent nor conclusive.
According to the TUC, discussions held with the PURC during the major tariff review, beginning with a meeting at the Alisa Hotel, had not reached any agreement when the Commission unexpectedly announced the new tariffs on December 2, 2025.
The announcement, they said, came despite the PURC’s earlier message scheduling further engagement with labour on December 8, 2025.
“We find this unacceptable. In the spirit of fairness and mutual respect for our social partnership, we demand that government suspends the announced tariff increases,” the TUC Secretary-General, Joshua Ansah, stated.
The union insisted that the PURC ought to return to the negotiation table to complete the consultative process before any tariff changes take effect.
The leadership warned that the latest adjustments threaten to erode the 9% wage increment secured for workers in 2026 unless the government shows willingness to review and top up the wage adjustment.
The TUC Secretary-General also questioned the timing of the tariff implementation, which is expected to begin on January 1, 2026, ahead of the payment of the new wage adjustment at the end of January.
“This obviously borders on insensitivity. Why rush to impose a tariff increase when workers have not yet received the corresponding wage adjustment?” the union quizzed.
The union assured workers that it would resist any tariff increases that undermine the negotiated wage gains. Mr. Ansah reaffirmed the union’s commitment to protecting workers’ incomes and pushing for a fair, well-grounded tariff determination process.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House