The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has levied a substantial fine of GHS 5,868,000.00 on members of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) board who served between January 1 and March 18, 2024.
This penalty was imposed due to their infringement of Regulation 39 of L.I. 2413, which mandates prior notification to consumers before any power interruption.
Among the individuals affected by this fine are Keli Gadzekpo, who resigned as Board Chair on March 26, and the current ECG Managing Director, Samuel Dubik Mahama.
The PURC had directed the ECG in a letter dated March 18 to issue a load-shedding timetable by April 2, 2024, a directive that was openly disregarded without an explanation.
The Commission’s analysis of data submitted by ECG revealed 4142 outages to consumers within ECG’s operational areas between January and March 2024.
Out of these, only 165 were planned by ECG, with 40 supported by public notices.
However, 125 outages had no prior notices, and even among the planned ones, 38 out of 40 notices did not comply with the required three-day statutory notice under Regulation 39 of L.I. 2413.
As a consequence of these breaches, PURC imposed a regulatory charge of 3,000 penalty units on ECG for each of the 163 breaches, totaling GHS 5,868,000.00.
This fine is to be paid by the board members due to the ownership structure.
However, considering the impact on ECG’s operations and consumers, the fine is to be paid into a dedicated fuel account controlled jointly by the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance by May 30, 2024.
Source-citinewsroom
