PURC slaps ECG with GHS36K fine, board members to pay over GHS5.8million

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has imposed fines on the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) totaling GHS36,000 for its failure to provide complete details of all bank and investment accounts to the Commission, despite repeated requests.

The information requested pertains to tariff revenue allocation, regulatory audit data, and other operational matters.

In a letter addressed to ECG, PURC stated that the submitted details of ECG’s bank accounts were incomplete, in line with regulatory requirements.

As per Regulation 45 of LI 2413, an initial regulatory charge of 3,000 penalty units, amounting to GHS36,000, has been imposed on ECG.

The company is required to pay this charge to the Commission by April 22, 2024.

Additionally, ECG will incur daily regulatory charges of 3,000 penalty units for each working day that the requested details remain outstanding until compliance is achieved.

Furthermore, ECG has been fined GHS5,868,000 for its failure to comply with the statutory notice on notification and publication of planned outages, as required by Regulation 39 of LI 2413.

Due to ECG’s financial constraints, the Commission has decided to hold the board members of the company accountable for this fine.

The board members who were in office from January 1 to March 18, 2024, are required to pay the GHS5,868,000 fine into a dedicated fuel account jointly controlled by the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance by May 30, 2024.

Additionally, ECG has been ordered to pay GHS446,283,706.29 to Category B beneficiaries under the Cash Waterfall Mechanism, representing revenue collected but unpaid from August 2023 to February 2024.

This amount must be paid by April 30, 2024, with board members and management held liable in case of non-compliance.

PURC will monitor compliance with these directives in conjunction with ECG’s Cash Waterfall validation reports and periodic regulatory monitoring.