Electricity tariffs are a trap, killing jobs and fueling power theft – Industry groups

The Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG), together with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association, has expressed outrage over the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission’s (PURC) ongoing nationwide consultations aimed at raising electricity tariffs next year.

In a press statement, the associations described the skyrocketing cost of electricity in Ghana as “unsustainable, anti-business, anti-growth, and fundamentally flawed.”

They warned that the current pricing system is strangling enterprises, crushing competitiveness, and creating fertile ground for illegal connections and power theft.

“Ghana’s electricity pricing system punishes honest businesses and users in general and rewards inefficiency,” the statement said.

“Honest ordinary Ghanaians are essentially paying for the sector’s losses, mismanagement, and corruption. Consequently, businesses are pushed to the brink, and some are driven to bypass the system entirely.”

The associations highlighted the devastating impact on productive sectors such as factories, cold storage facilities, and other energy-intensive industries.

They argued that the high tariffs are discouraging local manufacturing and making imports more attractive, undermining the government’s own promise to make Ghana an industrial hub.

“When electricity becomes unaffordable, it becomes a target for illegal access,” the statement warned.

“We are fast creating a society where honest business owners are punished while defaulters and illegal users thrive.”

FABAG and its partners have called for urgent reforms, including a full audit of the real cost of power production and distribution, a simplified and transparent tariff structure, immediate relief for businesses, a crackdown on internal waste and corruption, and implementation of operational cost-cutting measures within the utilities.

The associations concluded with a plea for government intervention, insisting that electricity should empower Ghanaians, not impoverish them.

“Enough is enough! We are tired of lip service and empty promises. The President must act now,” they urged.

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