ECG board challenges PURC's fine over load-shedding timetable

Ghanaian

The board members of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has issued a response to fines imposed by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for the company's failure to provide a load-shedding timetable.

On April 15, The PURC in a ltter to ECG stated that it had imposed a fine of GHC5,868,000 on the members of the board who served

Read full articlefrom the beginning of the year until March 18, 2024, for not ensuring that customers were duly notified before power outages.

In response, the ECG board members throught their lawyers have contested the authority of the Commission to levy fines, arguing that it does not possess powers equivalent to those of the High Court.

In a letter to the PURC dated April 17, the lawyers stressed that the board members, who are not directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the company, should not be held personally accountable for management's actions.

Moreover, they argued that the fines were imposed without affording the board members an opportunity to present their case or provide input, thus violating principles of natural justice.

The letter strongly rejected any personal responsibility attributed to the board members for the operational decisions made by the company's management.

It expressed firm objection to the PURC's actions, deeming them unjust and unacceptable.

"The Commission's Order imposing regulatory charges on the members of the board is unlawful, null and void as same is without jurisdiction. By this Order, the Commission has unlawfully clothed itself with the powers of the High Court, and imposed a sentence on the board members, without having been given the opportunity to be heard which amounts to a breach of the rules of the natural justice."

"Our clients, therefore, reject the contents of the regulatory order relative to any personal liability on their part," an excerpt of the letter stated.