GHS5.8million regulatory sanction can render ECG counter-productive — PURC 

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) can become counter-productive should it fail to honour regulatory sanctions after April 22, 2024, the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) has said. 

The counter-productiveness would arise through the payment of GHS5.868 million penalty, should ECG fail to comply with the payment of a three-day statutory charge of GHS36,000 to PURC.

“For failure to comply with the three-day statutory notice required under Regulation 39 of L.I. 2413, the Commission, in accordance with Regulation 45 of L.I. 2413, hereby imposes a regulatory charge of 3,000 penalty units on ECG for each of the 163 breaches, amounting to GHS 5,868,000.00,” PURC said in a regulatory order to ECG.

The Commission indicated that due to the nature of ECG's ownership and business, the imposition of the penalty of GHS5,868,000.00 on the Company would be counter-productive.

The Commission said that would be so because the payment from ECG's revenue would have a rebounding adverse effect on the quality of service and consumers who paid tariffs to the Company.

“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 (GHS 5,868,000.00,” PURC stated.

“These Board Members were at all material times responsible for providing strategic direction to ensure the provision of safe, adequate, efficient, reasonable and non-discriminatory service to consumers,” the Commission noted.

This development is because of ECG's non-compliance with the Cash Waterfall Mechanism, non-compliance with regulatory requests for data, and non-compliance with the PURC Consumer Service Regulations, 2020 (L.I. 2413).

Specifically, the Commission indicted that ECG had failed to comply with an order on Tariff Revenue Allocation under the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM), which was due on March 25, 2024.

Again, ECG failed to honour the provision of Regulatory Audit Data and Submission of Information Related to Operational Matters, March 27, 2024, as well as the provision of other Regulatory Audit Data due on April 2, 2024.

GNA