The Ghana Utility Performance Index (GUPI) for 2021 has been introduced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).
The Ghana Utility Performance Index (GUPI) was created to evaluate the performance of Ghana's water and power utilities across all of its operational areas and regions.
It was introduced on Tuesday with the opening of the PURC-GIMPA Center of Excellence in Public Utilities Regulation by Dr. Ishmael Ackah, Executive Secretary of the PURC (CEPUR).
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the energy minister, introduced the CEPUR.
The PURC's regulatory initiatives to support a strong, competitive, and effective energy and water utility sector include the implementation of the GUPI.
So, GUPI expands on PURC's current utility performance analysis by assessing the overall performance of particular geographical and operational aspects of Ghana's electricity and water utilities. This is done using regulatory auditing and monitoring methodologies.
According to Dr. Ishmael Ackah, "the GUPI analyses, computes, and ranks the performance of all these regional utilities, taking into consideration the utility's performance against a scoring criterion devised by important regulatory indicators."
Eleven indicators for the electrical sector and twelve for the water sector were used to create the index. These indicators were chosen for monitoring the quality of services provided by the utilities using the PURC's major performance regulatory indicators and existing Legislative Instruments.
He stated that "this first edition assessed the performance of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) across its 13 operational regions, the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) across its 5 operational areas, and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) across its 7 operational regions and one strategic business unit."
The 2021 Ghana Utilities Performance Index results showed that the utilities evaluated had varying degrees of performance across the various metrics and along regional lines, according to Dr. Ackah.
In the power industry, it was found that the areas with the best levels of performance had high fault maintenance regimes, and revenue mobilization drives and was cost-effective.
High-performing operational regions in the water industry saw excellent levels of water quality, cost-effectiveness, and user response.
On the GUPI's benefits, he said, "First, it will assist utilities in determining the direction of their investments towards enhancing service delivery. Second, the index's findings would help regulators pinpoint key areas for upcoming audits and monitoring initiatives aimed at improving the performance of the utilities. Finally, data on the GUPI will be made public and accessible for research and studies that are pertinent to policy and will aid the sectors.
According to Dr. Ackah, the Commission anticipates that the findings will foster utility efficiency and peer learning to increase customer benefits.
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