Ghana’s Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has threatened the staff of the Electricity Company Ghana (ECG) with dismissal should the company continue to record huge commercial and system losses.
The recent Auditor General’s Report revealed that ECG recorded a huge loss of US$344.3 million in revenue as a result of system losses in 2018.
The company purchased a total power of 10,900.55 GWh from power producing companies in the West African nation.
However, ECG sold 8,251.47GWh to customers with the remaining 2,649.08, which represented 24.30 per cent of power purchased, being lost.
In 2020, the ECG again recorded a commercial loss of 26.02 per cent, with the Managing Director, Kwame Agyeman-Budu blaming it partly on the COVID-19 pandemic which forced the company to implement rotation of workers.
Speaking at the inauguration of ECG’s Revenue Protection Task Force in Accra last Tuesday, Energy Minister Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh said ECG, Volta River Authority (VRA) and Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) can’t balance their books with such losses.
“It is in the interest of all citizens of this country to ensure that we pay for what we consume,” he said.
“How much are we making to afford to lose as much as 30 per cent of our labour in losses? So, it is in the interest of every staff and management member of ECG, VRA, NEDCo and GRIDCo to help avoid 30 per cent being recorded,” he stressed.
“The viability of your companies to employ you is at stake. So, it is in our collective interest to ensure that the system works,” he added.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com