ECG boss shares greatest achievements

Managing Director (MD) of the Electricity Company of Ghana, Kwame Agyeman-Budu has shared some of his achievements ever since assuming his role in 2019 and working as Deputy Manager in the outfit.

According to him, working with the ECG has been a great experience for him and one of the things he will always remember was his ability to work with the management team to bring the workforce of the PDS and the ECG together.

The Government of Ghana terminated the Concession Agreement with the Power Distribution Services (PDS) Limited over the take-over of the assets of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for distribution of electricity in the southern sector of the country.

The move was necessitated by a forensic audit conducted by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Government of Ghana’s investigations into the issuance of Demand Guarantees for the Concession Transaction, which revealed that the Payment Security for the transaction was invalid.

Speaking about his achievements with the company on the Y leaderboard Series on Y 107.9 FM with Rev Erskine, Agyeman-Budu said, “The ECG was there before the PDS came and after the contract was terminated, workers who were once with ECG had to now transition back from PDS. Together with the management team, we managed to bring the two workforces together and integrated them into our operations smoothly. We worked with the union and all things came back to normal”.

He furthered that he spearheaded the introduction of the smart prepaid meters, with which one can load their meters with credit at their convenience. “We have the postpaid meters for which you pay your bills on a monthly basis and we introduced the prepaid meters. Now, we have two types of prepaid meters namely, the smart and non-smart meters. With the smart meter, you just load your credit on it without using the card and make credit purchases anytime you want. Now, in the comfort of your homes, you can just tap your phone and get your lights on even at midnight.

The ECG boss furthered that he had introduced the drone system for monitoring power lines and work given out to independent contractors.

“I have also introduced a drone system for monitoring. Now we don’t have to send personnel to the field to inspect contracts for the clearing of bushes under our power lines. The drones inspect work given to contractors and assess the work done.

On his account, the regular patrols by the drones also help them identify faulty lines and resolve them quickly, hence, the quality of power now enjoyed by Ghanaians.

The improved contact centre of the ECG is one of Agyeman-Budu’s infrastructural projects worthy of praise. The call contact centre has incorporated various social media and web platforms into its operations. Customers receive prompt responses to queries and complaints and this is done in the language of choice of the customer.

Kwame Agyeman-Budu, an engineer with over 28 years’ experience in the energy industry was appointed successor of Ing. Samuel Boakye-Appiah, after serving in the post of the ECG MD for almost 3 years.

Prior to his appointment, Kwame Agyeman-Budu was the Deputy Managing Director of the institution having been appointed in January 2018.

He also served as the Customer Project Manager in the Energy Service Department of the Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc., the largest utility company in the US with over 15,000 employees and serving over 3.3 million electric customers and over 1 million natural gas customers.