President-elect John Dramani Mahama has expressed deep concerns over the current governance challenges at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), particularly its unsustainable 32% commercial and technical losses.
Speaking on the critical state of the energy sector, Mr. Mahama highlighted that these losses pose a significant threat to Ghana’s economic progress and must be addressed urgently to secure the country’s energy future.
He emphasized that failure to tackle ECG’s inefficiencies could undermine the hard-earned gains achieved through the debt exchange programme and the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement.
“The energy sector can derail everything that we have done with regard to the debt exchange and with regards to the IMF programme because debt continues to pile up there. ECG’s governance is in a very bad way, and so they are making commercial and technical losses of more than 32%,” he cautioned.
Mr. Mahama stressed that such high levels of losses are unsustainable for any utility company, saying:
“No utility company can survive with 32% of technical and commercial losses and continue to be a viable utility. As quickly as possible, we need to implement reforms in the entire electricity value chain.”
The president-elect underscored the importance of immediate reforms to ensure the energy sector’s stability, improve operational efficiency, and prevent further financial strain on the nation’s economy.