Hospitality Industry Fights Utility Rate Increases

Hospitality businesses in Ghana are expressing serious concerns over recent utility tariff increases, arguing that the government and the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) are failing to address fundamental issues driving up costs.

Ralph Ayitey, General Manager of Coconut Grove Regency Hotel, highlighted that the problem isn’t solely the high tariffs themselves, but substantial waste within the utility distribution system that is ultimately borne by consumers.

“We will want to see utility tariffs rather going down, but the PURC is talking about the cost of production. I’ve heard that, for example, electricity, we have transmission losses of up to 40%,” Mr Ayitey told the media.

He stressed the severity of these losses. “That is quite high. That is very, very high. And as much as we can, it’s very, very helpful that we plug that hole and gradually reduce it to the barest,” he explained.

Mr Ayitey believes that tackling these inefficiencies would provide significant relief to businesses. “If we can cap in that hole of 40% losses, obviously there will be reduction,” he noted. He further added, “So for me, it’s not necessarily about capacity, but it’s about reducing the waste to the barest.”

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