Inside ECG’s 2023 Overspend: How Ghana’s Power Distributor Exceeded Its Budget by 133%

In 2023, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the nation’s primary power distributor exceeded its approved expenditure by an astonishing GHS 189.77 million, representing a 133% overspend. Data presented to the Public Accounts Committee on October 28, 2025, reveals striking variances between approved and actual spending across several key categories.

Analyzing ECG's Budget Overspend

Highlights from the Overspend

• Foreign Training topped the list with an excess of GHS 60 million, nearly tripling its approved allocation.

• Stakeholder Engagement expenses ballooned to GHS 49 million, up from just GHS 3.1 million approved.

• Consultancy Services overshot by GHS 18.6 million, while Publicity and Overseas Travel added another GHS 31.9 million combined.

• Other categories such as Industrial Relations, Cleaning, and Call Centre Operations also registered multi-million overspends.
  

What This Means for ECG and Ghana’s Power Sector

This level of overspending raises crucial questions about public sector financial discipline and accountability. ECG, responsible for electricity distribution across the country, operates within a context of recurring losses, infrastructure challenges, and growing public scrutiny over tariff adjustments and power reliability.

The overspend highlights potential weaknesses in:

• Budget forecasting and control mechanisms,

• Procurement and contract oversight, and

• Monitoring of discretionary spending such as training, travel, and stakeholder activities.
  

Expert Insights

Public finance analysts suggest that such overspends may reflect both structural inefficiencies and systemic compliance issues within state-owned enterprises. A comprehensive audit could help identify which expenditures were legitimate operational necessities and which were avoidable leakages.

Furthermore, energy economists argue that ECG’s overspending trend could undermine investor confidence in Ghana’s broader energy sector reforms, especially in light of ongoing efforts to privatize distribution operations and improve collection efficiency.

The Bigger Picture

ECG’s overspend is not an isolated event. Several state-owned enterprises in Ghana have faced similar budget overruns, pointing to a pattern of weak expenditure controls in the public sector. As the government intensifies its fiscal consolidation efforts, improved budget transparency and real-time expenditure tracking may be critical to preventing future overruns.

Conclusion

ECG’s 2023 overspend is a stark reminder that financial efficiency in public institutions remains a work in progress. Moving forward, digital budgeting tools, performance-based audits, and stronger accountability frameworks could help restore trust in how Ghana’s public funds are managed.