GRIDCo requests 130% transmission tariff hike to sustain operations

The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has applied to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for approval to more than double its transmission service tariff, from the current 5.6422 pesewas per kilowatt-hour to 12.9768 pesewas per kilowatt-hour in 2025.

The request represents a 130 percent increase compared to the Q1 2025 rate.

In its proposal, GRIDCo argued that the existing tariff is inadequate and stressed the need for a cost-reflective rate to support its operations.

For the 2026–2030 review period, the utility company is projecting tariffs to range between 13.04 pesewas and 13.44 pesewas per kilowatt-hour, excluding statutory levies.

Samuel Kow Acquah, Acting Director of Corporate Strategy at GRIDCo, explained the justification for the sharp increase in the first year, noting that subsequent adjustments would be modest.

“We’ve looked at a lot of cost rationalization measures so that we don’t pass on some costs to the consumers. If you look at the first year, we require that much leap in our tariff to GHS12.96 per kilowatt hour… After the first year, an increment of 0.5% will be okay to sustain our operations.

“If we are able to do that we can give you back 0.5%. So there can’t be a reduction of 0.5 in 2027 and for the other years, 2028 through to 2030, we are doing 0.1% and 2.5% in 2030.

“So it is very critical that we have what we are asking for so that all these investments that we enumerated we can serialise their deployment within the years we have stipulated,” he added.