The electricity and water tariffs cut announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) takes effect today, April 1, 2026.
Utility consumers will now enjoy some relief following the announcement by the PURC in March.
The Commission reduced electricity charges by 4.81 per cent, while water tariffs have been cut by 3.06 per cent for the second quarter of the year.
According to the PURC, these adjustments have been carried out in line with the Commission’s mandate to review tariffs on a quarterly basis to reflect developments within the Quarter.
The Quarterly reviews track and incorporate movements in key factors for which their variability affects the operations of Utility Service Providers (USPs).
These factors are the exchange rate between the Ghana Cedi and the US$, domestic inflation rate, electricity generation mix, and the cost of fuel mainly natural gas to power the thermal plants.
These Quarterly adjustments are undertaken by the Commission to maintain the real value of the tariffs, which would enable the utility service providers to be financially viable to deliver on their services to consumers, while bearing in mind the impact of these tariffs on consumers in general.
The Commission said that in its analysis, it considered the following factors;
• Ghana Cedi-US Dollar Exchange Rate
The Commission applied a projected Weighted Average Ghana Cedi-US Dollar Exchange Rate of GHS11.1931/US$1.0000 for the second Quarter of 2026.
This projected exchange rate is based on a 3-month Actual Inter-Bank Average Ghana Cedi-US Dollar Selling Exchange Rate for the period December 01, 2025 to February 28, 2026. This indicates a 6.78% reduction from the last Quarter rate of GHS12.0067/ US$1.0000.
• Inflation Rate
The Commission also used a 3-month (December 01, 2025 to February 28, 2026) average inflation rate of 4.17% for the second quarter of 2026, which indicates a downward review of 47.87% from the previous quarter.
• Price of Natural Gas
The Commission applied a Weighted Average Cost of Gas (WACOG) price of USD8.0988/MMBtu indicating an upward adjustment of 2.84% from the previous rate of USD7.8749/MMBtu.
• Electricity Generation Mix (Hydro:Thermal Mix)
The projected hydro-thermal generation mix for the quarter under review remained the same at 20.90% from Hydro generation and 79.10% from Thermal generation as applied in the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) of 2025.
