Yesterday, PURC told us that, as of July 1, our electricity bills will increase by 3.49%. Their rationale? They anticipate the Cedi will struggle against the dollar. But here is the catch they want you to ignore–their own data shows that local inflation has actually dropped to 3.43%, and the natural gas they use to run the power plants is now 1.58% cheaper. The math simply isn’t mathing, and we are going to challenge it formally.
But there is a much bigger trap ahead of us. By 2027, under pressure from the IMF, the government plans to hand over ECG to a private manager. They are hawking this “privatisation” as the ultimate magic cure for our power troubles. But when you look at the raw numbers, it’s clear that just changing the driver won’t fix a car with no engine.
Before anybody hands over our national grid, the people on the street demand answers to these four critical questions:
1. The 8% Myth vs Our 21.5% Reality
Anywhere else in the world, power grids lose about 8% of their electricity to technical and some marginal commercial reasons —and that is the accepted standard. But right here in Ghana, PURC legally allows ECG to lose a massive **21.5%** of the power they buy, and they add the cost of that wasted power straight to your monthly bill. (And we know the actual loss on the ground is way higher.
When the private manager takes over, will PURC immediately require them to meet the 8% global standard? If not, how long is the “grace period”? Why should the ordinary Ghanaian keep paying for 21.5% waste just to guarantee a private company makes its profit margin?
2. The January “Double-Dip”.
Remember January 2026? They slapped us with a 9.86% tariff increase and told us it was to raise money upfront to buy new transformers and fix the grid. ECG is currently using our money to do those upgrades. So, if we are already funding the fixes out of our pockets, why isn’t PURC reducing the “loss charges” on our current bills? We are paying for the cure, but still being billed for the sickness.
3. The 1 Cedi Fuel Tax Trap
Because ECG fails to collect its money properly, it owes billions to the power producers (IPPs). To pay off this massive legacy debt, the government forced a GH¢1.00 “Energy Sector Levy” on every litre of petrol and diesel we buy.
If a private manager takes over ECG, their only job is to look forward; they are not going to use their profits to pay off the government’s old debt. Does this mean we will end up paying the new manager’s expensive overheads on our electricity bills, while *still* paying that 1 Cedi tax at the pump for the sector’s old failures?
4. The “Big Men” Firewall.
The biggest reason ECG loses money isn’t just illegal connections in the neighbourhoods; it’s government ministries, state institutions, and political heavyweights refusing to pay their massive bills. For a private manager to succeed, they have to be ruthless—they must be able to climb the pole and disconnect a defaulting Ministry or state agency without interference.
The government doesn’t allow ECG to do that today. Will they honestly allow a foreign private company to cut power to a state agency tomorrow?
The Bottom Line
If the government doesn’t have the political spine to enforce commercial discipline on its own agencies, bringing in a private manager in 2027 is just hiring a very expensive middleman to manage the exact same mess. The ordinary Ghanaian cannot continue paying twice for systemic failure.
Sitsofe Mensah is a technology policy analyst and an associate of IMANI
