Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Energy Minister
• Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh is unhappy about the huge financial losses made by ECG
• The Energy Minister, disclosing a 10% revenue being unaccounted for, noted that a company like ECG should not be in debts
• He charged a newly constituted seven-member board to fix the situation
The Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has lamented the debt crisis the Electricity Company of Ghana is currently faced with.
According to the Minister, a company like ECG, having a monopoly status to sell energy, should have huge cash reserves and also be able to make profit as financial backup.
“But what do we find? The ECG is always in debt.” Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh noted as quoted by Graphic Online.
“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,” he added.
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh also disclosed that ECG is unable to account for 10 percent of electricity services rendered to the public.
He said that for every 1,000 megawatts of electricity sold, 100 megawatts are unaccounted for while noting that government after government had considered privatizing the company due to the challenges with its management.
The Minister also expressed that no government can endure the huge losses incurred by ECG while making a comparison that the Ghana Oil Company Ltd GOIL, despite being in a stiff competition, is making better strides by generating profit.
“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 said.
The Energy Minister was addressing the newly inaugurated board members of the ECG.
He urged employees to have the right attitude towards work and accountability as key for sustainability to turn the fortunes of the company.
Dr Prempeh averred that he would work closely with the newly constituted board to recommending that they come up with new methods as “the onus is on the board to ensure that things change.”
The Board Chair, on his part, assured his commitment towards achieving the required targets.
The new ECG board was wholly nominated by the government. The seven-member team would be Chaired by Mr Keli Gadzekpo, with Mr Kwame Agyeman-Badu as the Managing Director.
It also 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.