A shocking forensic audit conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has unearthed a staggering GHS 5.3 billion in under-declared revenue by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in 2024 alone. This revelation has cast a dark shadow over Ghana's struggling power sector, which is already plagued by chronic debt, liquidity crises, and recurring threats of supply cuts.
The audit's findings suggest that ECG's financial woes may be self-inflicted, with billions of Ghanaian cedis unaccounted for due to chronic inefficiencies in accounting practices or deliberate financial mismanagement. At the heart of the problem lies ECG's fragmented revenue collection system, which operates 99 different bank accounts and 21 separate billing systems, making effective oversight a daunting task.
The auditors noted that ECG's system for tracking revenue remains fragmented, creating opportunities for revenue leakage. Revenue collected through third-party vendors, including digital payment providers, is not always immediately reflected in ECG's official accounts, leading to discrepancies and delays. This lack of transparency and accountability has sparked concerns about regulatory failure and corporate mismanagement.
The consequences of ECG's under-declared revenue are far-reaching. Power producers, such as the Volta River Authority (VRA) and Bui Power Authority (BPA), have not received their due payments, exacerbating the liquidity crisis in the energy sector. Meanwhile, ECG prioritized commission payments to its revenue collection vendor, raising questions about the company's financial management.
Ghana's energy crisis is not just a matter of supply and demand but also a failure of financial discipline, regulatory oversight, and strategic planning. If ECG's revenue leakages continue, power producers may be forced to scale back generation, triggering a return to the crippling "dumsor" (load shedding) that Ghana has struggled to overcome.
The audit's findings have also raised questions about the effectiveness of the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM), a system designed to ensure transparency and prompt payments across the electricity value chain. Discrepancies between reported collections and actual disbursements by ECG have been uncovered, amounting to approximately GHS 3.5 billion over ECG's CWM allocation from July 2022 to September 2023.
The situation is dire, and Ghanaians are demanding answers. The Ministry of Finance has been pumping a staggering GH¢300 million into the power sector every month to keep the lights on. However, the benefits of this investment seem to be illuminating something far more sinister – the alleged abuse of power by the very people entrusted with the nation's electricity.
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