The Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd. started as the Electricity Corporation of Ghana in 1967 by Government Decree (NLCD 125) and was incorporated under the Companies Code, 1963 (Act 179) as the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited (ECG) in February 1997.
Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), distributes electricity in the Southern part of Ghana across six administrative regions i.e. Greater Accra, Eastern, Volta, Ashanti, Western and Central Region with a customer population of about 4 Million.
ECG serves over 80% of Ghanaians and purchases over 90% of the power produced in Ghana. ECG has a direct staff population of 6,500 and over 100,000 indirect employees made up of third party Suppliers and Contractors.
The Company has a mission to supply safe quality and reliable power to support the economic development of Ghana.
MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE
ECG is a limited liability company with the Government of Ghana as its sole shareholder, at the apex of management is the Board of Directors, a Managing Director and two Deputy MDs. The management is subdivided into head office with 19 Directorates headed by Directors, 7 Operational Areas, and Ashanti Strategic Business Unit (SBU), a Sub Transmission Division and 81 Operational Districts.
ECG is guided by corporate core values of Professionalism, Openness, Well-being, Excellence and Reliability (POWER).
GROWTH
The Company has over the last three years has invested over 1 billion USD dollars in its network to improve reliability and quality of supply to provide safe, quality and reliable electricity services to support the economic growth and development of Ghana.
The growth has been steady and quite significant in all its operations. Talking about growth, it is worth noting that the Company began with;
• A staff population of 600, now 6,438 comprising of 4,826 males and 1,612 females, forming 75% and 25% respectively.
• The Company had 10 Bulk Supply Points and has expanded to 40 BSPs with an increase of its Primary Substations (33/11 Kv) from 24 to 121.
• Secondary Substations have also increased from 2,000 to 27,000.
• Purchases of 11, 529, 97 Gwh of Electrical Energy with a customer population of 4 million. Delivering a revenue to sales ratio of 94.5%.
• There has been a significant increase in the Asset value of the Company, now standing at over 17 Billion Ghana Cedis (US$3,822,458,500).
• The Company has as part of the growth, incorporated an automated Balance Score Card System in measuring staff performance.
• ECG in its bid to create diversity and social inclusion in its operations created the Gender and Social Inclusion Policy under the Corporate Service Directorate.
In Recently times, The Government of Ghana assisted the Company with over 100 Million US Dollars to improve our distribution system among other interventions. This support has assisted greatly as ECG has
- Introduced VIT Feeder Automation scheme for self-correcting of the distribution network without relying on complicated human and communications systems.
- SCADA system which enables remote monitoring and operating of our Bulk Supply Points (BSPs) and Primary Substations for automatic, prompt correction of anomalies.
These two projects in particular have increased reliability and lessen the outage duration as well as the outage frequency.
There is also the introduction of live-line maintenance system which allows customers to enjoy continuous power supply whiles faults are being mended.
Again, Drones have been introduced for effective monitoring of the company’s distribution network to identify vegetation interference and weak spots on the network, which otherwise could cause outages, for prompt rectification.
Android Mobile Point of Sales (POS) devices have been introduced for payment of bills in remote areas to improve customer convenience to achieve excellent customer service objectives.
We have incorporated Prepayment metering in many of our operational areas, with flexibility and functionality to offer friendly services to customers.
We have completed Nine hundred and five (905) network development projects in all operational areas for reinforcement of the primary distribution network, to accommodate the ever-increasing demand.
We also incorporated the Customer Management System (CMS) in our business operations to enhance the entire billing process.
There is also the Interconnection of fibre network to connect Accra and the Eastern Region to improve communication in customer service delivery.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Over the past few years, ECG has worked hard to make strides in all aspects of its operations.
A lot of smart and modern technology has been introduced in our business such as;
The ECG Power App (ECG POWER) – This is fully operational for online purchasing of electricity, payment of bills, etc. at the convenience of our customers. Here is where we have put convenience in the customer’s own hands.
Again, we have the ECG Web Portal which provides customers with the ease of managing their ECG accounts online in the comfort of their homes/offices.
USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data code) is used to collect customer details for customized SMS text messages to customers living in a particular area.
ECG Call Centre – We have digitized and upgraded the ECG Call Centre into a Contact Centre, to bring a more personalized experience to our customers.
Bulk SMS-Broadcasts And a Whatsapp Business Contact - has also been Provided for quick two-way communication with customers on power situations in their areas.
Meter Management System and Meter Control Centres, are assisted MIDA projects which provide a network system that enables customers to purchase electricity or pay for their bills anywhere in the country.
The Procurement of Geographical Information system (GIS) Software
The acquisition of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) Software for better management of business information across the Directorates.
To move closer to the customer, the company has added over 43 office facilities which include: customer service centres, district offices, cash points, etc. to the existing ones within the last three years.
Because of all these interventions, our service connection periods have improved from 21 working days to 5 working days.
AWARDS
Due to the improvement in our service delivery over the years, ability to manage and reduce outage periods, our vibrant interactions with customers and on social media, the Company has received various Business Excellence Awards:
2020 |
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Award/Recognition |
Description |
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Best CEO (Power Supply) of the Year |
Ghana Industry CEO Awards 2020
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In recognition of ECG’s contribution to the socio-economic development of Ghana
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Ghana Development Awards 2020 |
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Contribution to the Growth and Development for ensuring the
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Ghana Development Awards 2020 |
In recognition of ECG’s contribution to the socio-economic development of Ghana
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Outstanding Project for Fighting
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Ghana Energy Awards 2020
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In recognition of ECG’s contribution to the socio-economic development of Ghana
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Digital Company of the Year
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Ghana Social Media, Business and
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In recognition of ECG’s contribution to the socio-economic development of Ghana
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Social Media Community Manager of the Year |
Ghana Social Media, Business and
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In recognition of ECG’s contribution to the socio-economic development of Ghana
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CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)
Electricity Company of Ghana has an established Corporate Social Responsibility Policy which it implements in support of society. I wish to mention a few of the many CSR activities we have embarked on;
The Board and management with the support of our suppliers and Contractors put up the ECG ultra-modern Covid-19 Treatment and Isolation Centre at Pantang in Accra the facility has 65 modern hospital beds, fully air-conditioned and well-furnished with State-of-the-art biomedical equipment, 2 dedicated distribution transformers for un-interrupted power supply and Fibre-optic connectivity for high internet speed.
Free Wi-Fi for all schools (CSR): ECG, in partnership with the government of Ghana has introduced the provision of Free Wi-Fi for all Secondary Schools and tertiary institutions, leveraging ECG’s fibre-optic network.
This is one project which is benefiting students and Lecturers greatly as we move towards E-Education
ECG has fully funded an Engineering Laboratory at KNUST, Kumasi to enhance the study of Engineering.