Former Minister for Power has hailed the decision by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to fine the board members of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) some GH¢5.8 million.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Pru East, Dr. Kwabena Donkor described it as a significant move.

The PURC imposed this hefty fine, totaling GH¢5,868,000, on ECG board members who served from the beginning of the year until March 18, 2024.

This punitive action was taken due to their violation of Regulation 39 of L.I. 2413, which requires prior notification to consumers before any disruption in power supply occurs.

The fine has affected various individuals, including Keli Gadzekpo, who resigned as Board Chair on March 26, and the current ECG Managing Director, Samuel Dubik Mahama.

Speaking on Citi FM, Dr. Donkor expressed his support for the fine.

He noted that, it is necessary because the board members failed to take responsibility for the company’s decisions.

“For me, that is extremely refreshing. Extremely refreshing because I also rank the State Enterprises Committee of Parliament and good governance has been noticed more by its absence in a number of State-owned Enterprises.

"Board members do not take responsibility for decisions of the entities that they superintend over and so, I am very excited about that,” he stated.

Background

The board's failure to issue a public load-shedding timetable by April 2, 2024, as directed by the PURC in a March 18 letter, is the basis for the penalty. The letter also demanded the ECG submit details on planned outages undertaken between January and March.

An analysis of the submitted data by the PURC revealed that 4,142 power outages occurred during the period. Only 165, representing a mere 3.98% of the total, were classified as planned outages by the ECG. Further examination showed that public notices accompanied only 40 of these planned outages, leaving the remaining 125 without any explanation to consumers.

The PURC investigation found that 38 of the 40 notifications failed to adhere to the mandatory three-day statutory notice stipulated by Regulation 39 of L.I. 2413. In essence, the ECG disregarded legal requirements in 163 instances of planned outages.

The regulatory body is imposing a fine of 3,000 penalty units on the ECG for each violation related to the timetable directive. However, acknowledging the ownership structure of the ECG, the PURC has redirected the penalty towards the board members.

The decision to hold the board members accountable stems from the potential negative impact on service quality if the fine were levied directly on the ECG.  The PURC explained, "payment from ECG's revenue would have a rebounding adverse effect on quality of service and consumers who pay tariffs to the company."

The nine board members have until May 30, 2024, to settle the fine into "a dedicated fuel account under the joint control of the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance."