Franklin Cudjoe angery with ‘Usain Bolt-speed’ depletion of ECG prepaid credits
Public policy analyst and founder of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, has sounded the alarm over what he describes as the suspiciously rapid depletion of prepaid electricity credit, intensifying concerns already circulating among consumers nationwide.
In a Facebook post, he recounted his personal experience, explaining that prior to February 16 his daily electricity expenditure averaged about 21 cedis. However, after purchasing GH₵1,500 worth of prepaid credit on his birthday, he said the entire amount was wiped out by 9:07am on February 25.
“I can confirm that meters are stealing our power… At exactly 9:07am this morning all the credits are gone. Zero,” he wrote, calling on the Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, to urgently step in.
He cautioned that failure to resolve the issue could drive aggrieved consumers toward illegal power connections.
His claims come amid growing public frustration, with many electricity users taking to social media in recent weeks to complain about what they describe as unusually fast credit depletion on prepaid meters.
In response to the uproar, the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition has directed the Electricity Company of Ghana to investigate the matter and present a report within seven days.
In a statement shared on X, the Ministry’s spokesperson, Richmond Rockson, indicated that the government is treating the complaints with urgency.
“The Minister of Energy and Green Transition Hon. Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor has taken notice of these complaints and has directed ECG to investigate and provide a report to him within seven days for further action,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy has disclosed that electricity consumers may have overpaid approximately GH¢1.5 billion in Q4 2025 due to exchange rate and inflation projections used in tariff calculations.
According to the group, regulators applied a projected exchange rate of GH¢11.9735 to the dollar for the period and later adjusted it to GH¢12.3715 to account for under recovery claims by utility providers. However, the actual average exchange rate for Q4 2025 stood at GH¢10.8733, resulting in what the group described as an over recovery margin of GH¢1.1002 per dollar.
The report further argued that prevailing macroeconomic conditions should have triggered a double digit reduction in electricity tariffs, estimating a potential 11 per cent cut in Q1 2026.