Minority in Parliament has criticised the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission’s (PURC) latest upward adjustment of electricity and water tariffs.

They argue that current economic conditions should have resulted in lower utility charges rather than increases.

The criticism follows PURC’s announcement on Monday, June 22, that electricity tariffs will increase by 3.49 per cent and water tariffs by 0.85 per cent effective July 1, 2026, as part of its third-quarter tariff review.

According to the Minority, consumers were expecting a reduction in utility tariffs of about six per cent, citing recent improvements in key economic indicators and developments within the energy sector.

Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, the Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Energy Committee, Collins Adomako-Mensah, questioned the basis for the latest tariff increases and argued that the figures provided by the Commission do not justify the adjustments.

“How does just a change of exchange rate of 0.2% push you to increase electricity by close to 4%? It just does not add up. And I’m surprised that PURC is doing this to us. I’m totally surprised. Cumulatively, they’ve increased electricity by 31.69% from January 2025 to date.

“It was just the first and second quarters of this year that they reduced it by 4%. Even that, we challenge that. I’m surprised that PURC is doing this to the Ghanaian people. This particular increment, based on the figures that we’ve seen, does not make mathematical sense to me at all,” he said.

Mr. Adomako-Mensah contended that recent gains within the utility sector should have translated into lower tariffs for households and businesses rather than additional increases.

The Minority also argued that the latest adjustment raises questions about the rationale behind the quarterly tariff review mechanism, particularly in light of previous explanations that such reviews were tied to Ghana’s programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the previous Akufo-Addo administration.

In announcing the new rates, PURC said the adjustments were made in accordance with its mandate to undertake quarterly reviews of utility tariffs to reflect changes in key variables affecting the operations of utility service providers.

The Commission indicated that factors including exchange rate movements, inflation, fuel costs and the generation mix informed the latest review.

However, the Minority maintains that the new tariffs will place additional financial pressure on consumers and businesses already dealing with the high cost of living, insisting that the figures do not support the increases announced by the regulator.