Operations of PURC threatened by ₵10m debt

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has said its operation target for the year could be threatened by a 10 million cedis debt owed it by the Ghana Grid Company.

According to PURC, the money represents levy on payment of bills collected from clients of GRIDCO which it argued has been outstanding since 2014.

At a sitting with members of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC), Executive Secretary of PURC revealed despite several reminders, GRIDCO has refused to honour its debt.

Samuel Sarpong explained GRIDCO has blamed one of its clients, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for the delay in payment.

Understanding the complexity of the issue, he believes it is a “circular debt issue within the sector” adding “when one is not paying it affects the whole sector.”

He, however, disclosed the Commission has put in place what he described as “debt restructuring” to ensure that all outstanding debts are redeemed.

When asked how the Commission is coping with the constraint, Mr Sarpong explained “There are key things, mandated things you definitely have to do. So what we do is that we prioritize operational activities that will have an impact on our regulatory role and other activities.”

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