The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has launched the Ghana Utility Performance Index (GUPI) for 2021.

The GUPI, is an aggregated performance index computed to assess the performance of Ghana’s electricity and water utilities across their operational areas and regions.

It was launched on Tuesday, by the Executive Secretary of the PURC, Dr. Ishmael Ackah on the sidelines of the launch of the PURC-GIMPA Center of Excellence in Public Utility Regulation (CEPUR).

The CEPUR was launched by the Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.

The introduction of the GUPI is part of PURC’s regulatory efforts aimed at promoting a robust, competitive, and efficient electricity and water utility sectors.

GUPI therefore builds on PURC’s existing utility performance analysis through regulatory auditing and monitoring techniques, by evaluating the overall performance of specific regional and operational areas of Ghana’s electricity and water utilities

Dr. Ishmael Ackah explained that, “the GUPI evaluates, computes, and ranks the performance of all these regional utilities taking into account the utility’s performance against a scoring criterion developed in line with key regulatory indicators.

The index was developed using a set of 11 indicators for the electricity sector, and 12 indicators for the water sector. These indicators were selected from PURC’s key performance regulatory indicators and existing Legislative Instruments for monitoring quality of services of the utilities.”

According to him, “this inaugural edition assessed the performance of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) across its 7 operational regions and one strategic business unit, the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) across its 5 operational areas, and for Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) across its 13 operational regions.”

Dr. Ackah revealed that “the results of the 2021 Ghana Utilities Performance Index showed that the utilities assessed exhibited varied levels of performance across the different indicators, and along regional lines.

For the electricity sector, it was observed that regions that achieved the highest levels of performance had implemented and undertaken revenue mobilization drives, high fault maintenance regimes, and were cost efficient.

For the water sector, high performing operational areas witnessed high water quality levels, cost efficiency, and high consumer responsiveness.”

Touching on the advantages of the GUPI, he stated that, “first, it will help utilities to decide the direction of their investments towards improving service delivery.    Second, the results of the index would enable regulators identify areas of focus for future auditing and monitoring activities, towards enhancing the performance of the utilities. Third, data on the GUPI will be published and made available for research and policy relevant studies that will help improve the sectors.”

Dr. Ackah noted that it is the expectation of the Commission that the results would promote peer learning and efficiency among the utilities, with the objective of making consumers gain higher value for money.