The Auditor-General has indicted the board and management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for procurement breaches worth more than 145 million dollars. It followed the inability of the power distributor to adhere to the Public Procurement Act in signing 50 contracts to procure 862,750 meters and its accessories between 2016 and 2021.
Consequently, the company did not consider value for money in the process of procuring meters by ensuring competitiveness and transparency. Though the meters procured were taken through rigorous testing to ensure that specifications were met, ECG did not take steps to explore the possibility of getting meters of the same specifications at lower prices from other manufacturers other than the ones in its database.
The breaches were uncovered in the 2022 Performance Audit Report of the Auditor General on the Management of Meters by the Electricity Company Limited released on the 27th July 2023.
The Auditor-General commissioned the audit to ascertain how ECG planned and budgeted, procured, and monitored its installed meters to minimise power theft. The audit was carried out from August to December last year and covered the period 2016 to 2021.
It reviewed documents and interviewed key personnel at the ECG Head Office, Metering and Technical Services (MTS) Division, Materials and Depot in the Greater Accra Region as well as four selected regional and nine district offices.
Source: Graphic Online
