Electricity tariff hikes have dominated public conversations on social media and traditional media in recent times. In February 2026, some Ghanaians blamed the skyrocketing electricity bills on meters provided by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
The Energy Minister, John Jinapor, subsequently directed an investigation into the concerns. (here and here).
However, on March 8, 2026, a spokesperson for former Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and patron of the People’s Forum, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, made claims about the increasing rate of electricity tariffs in the country. (here and here).
One of the claims posted on his social media pages highlighted tariff increments in a 12 month period.
“A government that promises to reduce electricity cost comes in to increase it over 28% in 12 months. A government that needs a committee before it knows why electricity meters are reading at an abnormal rate,” he wrote in part on Sunday, March 8, 2028.
In this report, GhanaFact presents key facts on how electricity tariffs were adjusted by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) in the first year of the second term of President John Mahama.
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What we found
The PURC is the statutory body that regulates the utility sector in Ghana. In 2025, the commission conducted three tariff reviews, all three resulted in tariff increments for consumers.
The first tariff review was announced in the second quarter with an upward adjustment of 14.75%.
“A key variable that contributed significantly to the 2025 quarterly tariff adjustment was an inevitable attempt to pay half (50%) of an outstanding revenue of Ghs976Million carried over from the previous three quarters of 2024. The remaining 50% will be spread over the subsequent quarters of the year.
“The combined effect of the cedi/dollar exchange rate, inflation and the payment of 50% of outstanding revenues from the previous quarters in 2024, is that the utility companies are bleeding from serious underrecovery. For the time value of money, utility companies just like other businesses, will need periodic reviews of their prices (tariffs) in order to remain operational,” the PURC stated as the reason for the upward adjustment for the first and second quarters.
In the third and fourth quarters, electricity tariffs were increased by 2.45% and 1.14%, respectively. Cumulatively, this means that the tariff increments amounted to 18.34%. Therefore Miracles Aboagye’s claim is rated false.
Below is a timeline of changes in electricity tariffs for 2025
| First quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | Total |
| 14.7% | 2.45% | 1.14% | 18.34% | |
In December 2025, the PURC again announced new tariff increments of 9.86%, which took effect in the first quarter of 2026. When GhanaFact contacted Dennis Miracles Aboagye via WhatsApp with our findings, he told us, “We did a cumulative of 25/26.” Which means he added the 18.34% of 2025 and the 9.86% for first quarter of 2026 to arrive at 28.20%.
By: Gifty Danso
