The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has criticized the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for its poor revenue performance, highlighting that the company’s much-touted digitalization efforts have done little to address its financial woes. At a press conference, ACEP’s Policy Lead, Kodzo Yaotse, revealed that the ECG’s introduction of the new PowerApp in January 2023 has not led to the anticipated improvements in revenue collection.
Between August 2023 and July 2024, ECG’s collection rate was a dismal 43%, leading to GHS 13.6 billion in under-recoveries. Yaotse indicated that the switch from the internally developed app to the Hubtel-powered platform appears to have been procurement-driven rather than efficiency-oriented. The outsourced contract cost ECG over GHS 100 million in service charges, with Hubtel controlling all revenue collected before disbursing it to ECG.
ACEP called for a full audit of the Hubtel contract and transparency in ECG’s revenue collection systems, urging the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to hold the utility accountable for its inefficiencies.
