Energy Minister laments ECG’s inability to account for 10% of its revenue
Minister for Energy, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, has lamented over the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) inability to account for 10 percent of its revenue.
The Minister, expressing his dissatisfaction during the swearing-in of a newly constituted Board of the ECG, said at least 10 percent of electricity distributed by the ECG and consumed by the public cannot be accounted for.
“For every 1,000 megawatts of electricity sold, 100 megawatts is unaccounted for, and because of that the ECG is always in debt. And of course a company with such a profile cannot make any profit,” he stated charging the newly constituted Board to find solutions to the problems confronting the company.
The Minister speaking further, averred that every government for the past 20 years has had issues with the management of the company.
“Whether it was under President Kufuor or President Mills or President Mahama or President Akufo-Addo, each and every one of them had had his discomfort with the ECG. So, each one of the past four Presidents had at a particular time tried to bring the ECG under private management,” he noted, explaining that no government would be comfortable with the kind of money the ECG is losing annually.
Comparing the ECG with the Ghana Oil Company Ltd (GOIL), the Energy Minister remarked that even though GOIL was in stiff competition with several other Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), it was still making profit for government.
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The Minister also expressed concern that the ECG, although a monopoly that should have been swimming in cash, did not post any profit, stressing that something different must be done to turn the fortunes of the company around.
“This is because the chunk of the losses were in the area of commercials and which is what the ECG is actually known for — selling energy. And if you are so bad at selling, then the onus is on the board to ensure that things change,” he added.
Dr Prempeh expressed his desire to succeed with the current board under the chairmanship of Mr Gadzekpo, insisting that the company could not continue to do the same things and expect a different result.
He pledged to work with the current board to achieve the required targets through close collaboration and hard work.
The seven-member board, wholly nominated by the government, is under the chairmanship of Mr Keli Gadzekpo, with Kwame Agyeman-Badu as the Managing Director.
The Board has Mrs Carlien Dorcas Bou-Chedid, Mr Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Mr Sam Dubik Mahama, Madam Maataa Opare and Dr Nicholas Kwabena Smart-Yeboah as members.
