ECG board members to cough up GHS5.868m in PURC fine over dumsor
Former board members of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have been compelled to pay a large fine of GHS 5,868,000 in a landmark regulatory step by The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) took this ruling as a result of the board’s negligence in several power outages that happened between January and March 2024 without giving customers enough notice.
This fine demonstrates the regulatory body’s dedication to upholding standards and ensuring compliance in the utilities industry.
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The current Deputy Energy Minister, Herbert Krapah, is one of the punished individuals; the other eight are the previous ECG Managing Director, Samuel Mahama Dubik, and he was not in office during the period of infringement.
This move comes three months after Keli Gadzekpo, the previous board chairman, resigned.
Following an examination that showed 4,142 power outages over the designated period, only 40 of the 165 ECG-planned breakdowns were sufficiently reported to the public.
This led to the PURC taking strict measures. Regrettably, the majority of these notifications did not fulfill the legally mandated three-day notice period, leading to 163 occasions in which ECG did not adhere to Regulation 39 of L.I. 2413.
The PURC then levied a regulatory fine in response to these violations, originally taking direct aim at ECG.
But as ECG’s income might be used to pay the fine, which could have a detrimental effect on service delivery, the onus of payment was transferred to the specific board members who violated the rules at that time.
This ruling aims to emphasize the value of responsibility in positions of leadership within public utilities in addition to penalizing those who fail to do so.
It is a strong indication that oversight organizations such as PURC would strictly enforce adherence to the law in order to guarantee that customers obtain dependable and law-abiding services.
By May 30, 2024, the fined members are supposed to deposit this amount into a special fuel account under the joint supervision of the Ministries of Energy and Finance.
ECG also has to pay a separate fine of GHS 36,000 for not disclosing its bank account information completely.
Until full compliance is attained, additional fines will be assessed every day.
In order to guarantee that the money collected is allocated as planned, ECG is required to pay over GHS 446 million to Category B beneficiaries under the Cash Waterfall Mechanism by the end of April 2024.
This regulatory oversight goes beyond simply fines. These actions are a reflection of PURC’s strict enforcement of accountability and openness in Ghana’s energy industry.
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