By: OrePulse

Ghana's state-owned power distributor, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has settled GH¢1.3 billion of a GH¢1.4 billion tax bill owed to the Ghana Revenue Authority, according to findings in the Auditor-General's 2025 report.

Auditors at the Ghana Revenue Authority confirmed the payment on Thursday, when representatives of the Ministry of Energy and several state energy agencies testified before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee.

The ECG shortfall is one piece of a broader GH¢3.6 billion in tax irregularities the Auditor-General's report attributed to ten state-owned agencies in the energy sector.

Public Accounts Committee chairperson Abena Osei-Asare commended the Ministry of Energy for helping secure the payment and called on the other nine agencies named in the report to follow ECG's example in clearing their outstanding tax obligations.

"Every audit must lead to some action," Osei-Asare told the committee.

Ghana's Auditor-General is constitutionally required to report annually to Parliament on the management of public funds across government ministries, departments and state-owned enterprises, including their compliance with tax obligations owed to the Ghana Revenue Authority. Parliament's Public Accounts Committee is the standing committee tasked with scrutinizing those audited accounts; it holds hearings to question named officials and to track what corrective action their institutions have taken.

ECG is Ghana's principal electricity distribution utility, supplying power to customers across the southern part of the country, including the capital, Accra. The Ghana Revenue Authority is the state body responsible for collecting taxes and other domestic revenue on the government's behalf.

Thursday's hearing addressed the 2025 Auditor-General's report, which flagged tax and financial-reporting irregularities at several state agencies in the energy sector beyond ECG, alongside findings covering ministries and agencies in other parts of government. The amounts owed individually by the other nine energy agencies were not detailed in the portion of proceedings devoted to ECG's case, and officials at the hearing did not say when the committee would take up those outstanding obligations.

The GH¢1.3 billion payment leaves part of ECG's debt to the tax authority still unsettled, though officials did not specify the exact remaining balance during the hearing. Agencies named in the Auditor-General's report are typically required to respond to its findings and show what action they have taken to address them.