The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is facing intense criticism following an audit report revealing a GH₵490 million shortfall in its reported revenue.
The missing funds were expected to be part of the company’s cash inflows collected between October and December 2023.
According to the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC), the discrepancy emerged after reconciling ECG’s reported tariff and non-tariff revenue with its head office bank accounts.
The audit found that while ECG reported total revenue of GH₵3.38 billion for the three-month period, a detailed review of its bank accounts showed an actual revenue of GH₵3.87 billion.
This mismatch has been attributed to lapses in the transfer process of funds from regional and district accounts to the company’s 14 head office accounts.
The auditors raised concerns over the lack of robust internal controls, which allowed such a significant financial gap to go unnoticed.
To address the issue, the auditors recommended measures such as using revenue data from the ECG Cash Settlement Platform (ECSP), implementing a robust monitoring system for revenue allocation, and improving internal reconciliation mechanisms.