The Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy, Benjamin Nsiah, has criticized state institutions for passing on the burden of economic mismanagement to electricity consumers through increased tariffs.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) recently announced a 14.75% hike in electricity tariffs, effective May 3, 2025.
In an interview with ChannelOne News on Friday, April 18, Nsiah attributed the tariff increase to the failure of state institutions to manage the economy effectively.
“What is happening about tariff adjustment is a reflection of an irresponsible state institution or persons who manage the state institutions,” he said. “If the state fails to manage the inflation or act irresponsibly to manage it, it becomes a burden on the electricity user.”
Nsiah specifically pointed to the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance, saying they have mismanaged the economy, leading to the depreciation of the cedi.
“In terms of depreciation of the currency, which is one of the factors in determining tariff, the Bank of Ghana and the Minister of Finance mismanage the economy so much that the cedi depreciates, they say the end user should pay for this particular cedi depreciation,” he lamented.
Nsiah argued that the PURC’s justification for the tariff hike is flawed, as state institutions have failed to ensure currency stability. “I think that these state institutions and their appointees have not been fair to the end user because they are supposed to manage the cedi for it to be stable,” he said.
“I think that yes, they made certain justification for the adjustment, but that justification indirectly is irresponsible because the state actors who have been mandated to make sure the cedi is stable have not done their work well, and that inefficiency on their side is being passed on to the user” he added.