FABAG Rejects New Tariffs, Says ECG Is Holding Back Economic Growth

The Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG) has launched a strong attack on the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Water Company, accusing the two utilities of crippling businesses and dragging the economy down through years of inefficiency and waste.

FABAG says the latest tariff increases approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) are intolerable and must be suspended immediately. According to the Association, the utilities have become a burden rather than partners in national development, warning that the new tariffs will shut down factories, drive up food prices, and worsen the cost-of-living crisis.

The PURC recently approved a 9.8 per cent increase in electricity tariffs and a 15.9 per cent rise in water tariffs adjustments FABAG describes as unacceptable, unjustifiable, and insensitive. The Association stated that Ghanaians are still waiting for ECG to explain how it intends to address what it calls “the cancer of inefficiency, financial waste, and mismanagement” laid bare by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

FABAG stresses that these concerns cannot be ignored, insisting that the country deserves to know how ECG plans to fix its structural failures rather than hide behind repeated tariff increases. It accuses ECG and the Ghana Water Company of being a “real cancer in the economic development of Ghana,” adding that ECG has become the very problem it was created to solve.

The Association lists inefficiencies, financial losses, mismanagement, corruption, poor worker attitudes, revenue leakages, and poor service delivery as core challenges weighing down the utilities. FABAG also criticises the disparity between government wage increases and rising utility costs, describing it as unfair for government to approve a 9 per cent pay rise while PURC sanctions a combined utility cost increase of 25.7 per cent.

With technical and commercial losses exceeding 30 per cent, FABAG argues that ECG ranks among the worst performers in Africa, yet the Association is unaware of any credible plan to reduce these losses.

FABAG warns that the recent tariff hikes will force many businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises to shut down, lay off workers, or increase prices. The impact, it says, will be severe on food inflation, as manufacturing, storage, and distribution rely heavily on electricity and water.

The Association maintains that consumers should not be paying for inefficiency, particularly when ECG has repeatedly failed to publish transparent operational audits. Rising production costs, FABAG warns, will deepen the cost-of-living crisis and destabilise a sector vital to job creation and government revenue.

FABAG is demanding the immediate suspension of the tariff increases, a full operational audit of ECG and the Ghana Water Company with public disclosure, an aggressive loss-reduction program with clear targets, strict accountability measures, prosecution of internal theft, and a cost-recovery model driven by efficiency rather than endless tariff hikes.

The Association insists that Ghana cannot tax or tariff-increase its way out of the current crisis in the power and water sectors. It says the real solution lies in restructuring, digitisation, accountability, and proper revenue management not burdening struggling businesses with higher costs.

FABAG says it will continue to defend the interests of its members and the wider public because Ghana deserves efficient utilities, not ones that survive by punishing consumers.