ECG board members fined ₵5.8m by PURC for dumsor timetable breaches; company to pay ₵446m to Category B beneficiaries

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has been penalised heavily by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for a variety of violations.

The PURC fined ECG GH₵36,000 for failing to reveal all bank and investment accounts, despite several demands.

“The Commission hereby imposes an initial regulatory charge of 3,000 penalty units on ECG per Regulation 45 of LI 2413, amounting to GH₵36,000”, a letter to ECG said adding: “ECG shall pay the initial regulatory charge of GH₵36, 000 to the Commission on or before 22 April 2024”.

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Regarding the compliance timeline, the PURC said that following payment, “for every working day that the requested details remain outstanding, ECG shall pay an additional regulatory charge of 3,000 penalty units, calculated daily until the date of compliance.”

The corporation faces a punishment of GH₵5,868,000 for 163 violations in notifying and publishing planned outages.

The PURC has decided to transmit the latter fine onto ECG’s board members, citing the company’s financial difficulties and the possible impact on service quality.

The board members, serving from January 1 to March 18, 2024, are responsible for paying the GH₵5,868,000 fine by May 30, 2024.

“The Commission has determined that having regard to the nature of ECG’s ownership and business, the imposition of the penalty of GH₵5,868,000 on ECG would be counter-productive, as payment from ECG’s revenue would have a rebounding adverse effect on quality of service and consumers who pay tariffs to the company, the letter conveyed.

“For that reason, in the interest of justice and to protect the interests of consumers, the Commission shall hold the Board Members of ECG who were in office from 1 January to 18 March 2024 liable for the payment of the GH₵5,868,000.”

ECG has been compelled to pay GH₵446,283,706.29 to Category B beneficiaries under the Cash Waterfall Mechanism.

This amount, representing unpaid income from August 2023 to February 2024, must be resolved by April 30, 2024, with board members and management held liable in the event of noncompliance.

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