GH¢5.8m fine on ECG board members was sanctioned by our legal dept – PURC

A Commissioner of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Ishmael Edjekumhene, has disclosed that the decision to impose a fine of Five Million, Eight Hundred and Sixty-Eight Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 5,868,000.00) on members of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) board was given by PURC’s legal department.

The legality of the fine’s imposition was questioned following its announcement in a letter issued by the PURC on Monday, April 15.

PURC took action due to ECG’s violation of Regulation 39 of L.I. 2413, which requires prior notification to consumers before any power interruption.

Speaking on the legality of the imposition on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM on Tuesday, April 16, Mr. Edjekumhene told the host, Bernard Avle, that “we acted on the advice of the legal department, and there are legal precedents to this.”

Mr. Edjekumhene explained that the fine targeted the board members because the Commission feared it would be converted to tariffs for consumers to pay if it was imposed on ECG as an entity.

He added that this is not the first time it has fined the ECG for ineffectiveness.

“We were advised by the legal department that we can charge it on the board because we didn’t want it to come through or be paid through a tariff.

“We quoted relevant provisions of the Act upon which we were imposing the fine and this is not the first fine we have imposed on ECG. We imposed a fine on them when the issue of buying prepaid arose.”