The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has issued some orders on the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for non-compliance with some directives.According to the PURC, the orders issued on Monday, April 15, 2024 were in respect of Sections 3, 11 and 24 of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission Act, 1997 (Act 538) and Regulations 39 and 45 of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (Consumer Service) Regulations, 2020 (L.I. 2413).
Upon the failure of the ECG and its board to comply with the orders, the PURC has imposed sanctions directed at the ECG and the board members of the ECG for the period August 1, 2023, to March 18, 2024.
The PURC issued sanctions because the ECG, in particular, did not comply with the Cash Waterfall Mechanism and the board failed to inform consumers ahead of planned power outages.
The document by the PURC to the ECG, which we have sighted, fined the latter after the deadline for the directives on March 18, 2024 was not complied with. The PURC gave ECG from March 25 to April 2, 2024 to comply with specific directives.
On the Cash Waterfall Mechanism compliance, the ECG was to pay the allocated tariff revenue as prescribed and allocated by the Cash Waterfall Mechanism Committee. However, PURC said by the expiry date of March 25, 2024 ECG had not complied.
The regulator said ECG “partially” complied with the Cash Waterfall Mechanism by making payments for March 2024. It added that ECG is yet to pay the shortfalls from August 2023 to February 2024.
The PURC ordered the ECG to submit copies of all publications informing the general public of power outages from January 1, 2024, to date, but the publications ECG submitted fell short of the period under review.
The PURC said ECG did not submit any document on the load management timetable corresponding to the timelines and durations for each transformer injection.
The non-compliance with the above directives has called for sanction from the regulator, PURC. In the document we have referenced, the PURC has imposed a fine on members of the ECG board who served between January 1 and March 18, 2024.
The regulatory body has imposed a fine of 3,000 penalty units on the ECG for each violation outlined in the letter sent to the ECG. The members of the board are to pay the fine for failing to notify consumers beforehand of any power interruptions.
The measures taken by the PURC are geared towards ensuring that the ECG serves the consumer well, whereas the ECG also has its peculiar problems.
Recently, the ECG embarked on nationwide revenue mobilisation, where it was compelled to disconnect power to electricity consumers that were indebted to the power distribution house.
The ECG cannot be blamed, as they need to settle their obligations to power generation companies like GRIDCO, VRA, and others. During this exercise, even the legislative chamber was not spared as it suffered a blackout during proceedings over unpaid arrears.
Amidst the disconnection of the lines of debtors were the incessant power outages across the country, raising agitations that the monster, Dumsor, had resurfaced.
The effects of unexpected power outages on industries, businesses and productivity as a whole cannot be quantified.
Without holding brief for any of these two agencies,as they provide their respective services to Ghanaians, we hold the view that the ECG should not hesitate to engage with the regulator.
The Chronicle commends the two entities for doing their jobs in the interest of serving Ghanaians, whose economy and lives rely heavily on electricity supply.
We acknowledge that the PURC arrived at those sanctions after reviewing the data the ECG submitted.
It is our hope that going forward, these institutions will operate within the confines of the law so as to not trigger any flexing of muscles.
