Minister for Energy and Green Transition John Abdulai Jinapor has announced what he describes as a remarkable improvement in the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG)'s revenue collection this year.

According to the sector minister, the company managed to raise GH¢1.6 billion in the first half of 2025, against a projected target of GH¢2.5 billion.

“At the end of the month [June 2025], ECG was able to raise about GHC1.6 billion. Which is a remarkable improvement, even though the target ought to be GHC 2.5 billion. If you do a year-on-year comparison, this month [June] of 2025 as compared to the same month in 2024, there’s a remarkable improvement in terms of the revenue collection,” he made this known on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, July 2.

Mr John Jinapor also revealed plans to introduce a legislative instrument in Parliament to enforce tougher penalties on those who unlawfully connect electricity for users.

He noted that while some culprits have been arrested and prosecuted, the current punishments have not been effective enough in discouraging the act. He emphasized the importance of introducing harsher consequences to stop the practice.

Last month, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Limited commenced its nationwide revenue mobilization exercise to ensure arrears owed the company by consumers are settled.

The 12-day exercise commenced on Monday, June 16, and ended on Friday, June 27.

The revenue mobilization exercise focused on all categories of customers with arrears—residential, commercial, industrial and Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

The exercise was monitored by special teams who apprehended customers who attempted to interfere with the exercise and/or undertook illegal self-reconnection after disconnection.

In October last year, the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) raised concerns over the Electricity Company of Ghana's (ECG) monthly revenue losses, revealing that the company is losing approximately $67 million every month due to unpaid bills.

ACEP attributed these losses to the ECG’s low revenue recovery rate. Kodzo Yaotse, Policy Lead for Petroleum and Conventional Energy at ACEP, emphasized that improving the ECG's revenue collection must be prioritized by both the government and the company itself.

He warned that the continued failure to collect these revenues would only worsen Ghana’s growing energy sector debt and strain the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), who are already owed significant sums as part of the country’s legacy energy debt.

Per reports, the ECG is drowning in debt over GHC67 billion. The ECG has on numerous occasions embarked on revenue mobilization exercises but is yet to retrieve all the money owed the company.

Executive Secretary of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Dr Shafic Suleman, has lauded the Electricity Company of Ghana for improved revenue collection in the first quarter of 2025.

According to him, ECG has collected almost GHC1.4 billion every month since the beginning of the year. For him, “that is a step in the right direction to keep the lights on.”

As Chairman of the Cash Waterfall Mechanism, he vowed to ensure continuous cash flow to sustain the operations of ECG following recent engagements with the Energy Minister to upgrade the status of ECG on the Cash Waterfall Mechanism.

Meanwhile, customers have also been urged to use their regular channels, including the ECG Mobile App, to pay their bills. Download the app from the Google Play Store, or call the ECG contact center at 0302611611 or social media handles for assistance.