ECG Reviewing Hubtel Contract, Others to Ensure Compliance with PFM Act
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has initiated a comprehensive review of all major contracts, including its digital payment agreement with Hubtel, to enhance compliance with the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act and ensure value for money.
Appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, Acting Managing Director, Julius Kpekpena, disclosed that ECG has engaged a legal consultant to examine the terms of its key agreements.
“In fact, we just engaged a lawyer to help us review all our contracts, our major contracts, and the Hubtel contract is one of them, so that we can align all our contracts to applicable law,” he stated.
Mr Kpekpena explained that the review is particularly focused on ensuring ECG’s compliance with the PFM Act’s requirement for gross revenue collection, under which all funds must be received in full before any deductions are made.
“The PFM Act requires that we collect the money at gross and that Hubtel settle us at gross,” he said.
He further outlined the technical arrangement under which Hubtel handles ECG’s digital transactions. According to him, Hubtel must first remit all payments to ECG in full, before the company reimburses transaction fees to third parties such as mobile money operators and card issuers.
“For Hubtel to settle us at gross, they will need to pay mobile money fees that MTN or Telecel will collect. Those who pay with Visa cards will also need to pay those providers on our behalf and then give us an invoice. We then pay them before they go and pay the mobile money companies and card providers,” Mr Kpekpena elaborated.
He noted that the arrangement could result in ECG assuming additional costs under the gross settlement model, but maintained that it was necessary to ensure compliance with financial management regulations.
The development comes just a month after ECG reduced Hubtel’s commission from 3 percent to 1.65 percent as part of broader cost-efficiency measures.
Hubtel, one of Ghana’s leading fintech firms, manages ECG’s digital payment infrastructure, facilitating bill payments through mobile money, bank cards, and other online channels. The partnership forms a critical part of ECG’s digitalisation agenda and the government’s ongoing push for a cashless, transparent public payment system.
