The World Bank has downgraded Ghana’s Energy Sector Recovery Programme from “Moderately Satisfactory” to “Unsatisfactory”, citing significant implementation delays caused by funding constraints, stricter fiscal controls, procurement bottlenecks and disruptions linked to the country’s election period.
The assessment, contained in the World Bank’s latest implementation report dated June 30, 2026, highlights that the programme has fallen behind schedule due largely to delays in the release of Commitment Authorizations by the Ministry of Finance. According to the Bank, these authorizations are essential for disbursing funds needed to carry out key reforms across the electricity sector.
Approved in June 2024 and effective from March 2025, the Energy Sector Recovery Programme is designed to strengthen the financial sustainability of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) by improving operational efficiency, reducing revenue losses and expanding access to clean cooking solutions nationwide.
The report, however, paints a mixed picture of progress.
Of the programme’s key performance indicators, only one was fully achieved during the review period. ECG successfully completed and published its audited 2025 financial statements in May 2026, meeting an important transparency milestone. However, the statements were yet to be made publicly available on the company’s website at the time of the report.
Other targets recorded only partial progress.
ECG has rolled out its energy accounting system in just 20 percent of its operational districts, raising concerns that nationwide implementation may miss its target timeline. The company’s customer service improvement target also remains incomplete, as although a customer satisfaction survey was conducted in 2025, its findings have not yet been published.
Similarly, the National LPG Promotion Programme has reached about 38,000 beneficiaries, well below its overall target of 457,000 people. The World Bank noted that implementation of the initiative has slowed considerably.
Several other critical reforms remain off track.
GRIDCo has yet to submit its Security Constrained Economic Dispatch methodology to the Energy Commission, a reform aimed at reducing electricity generation costs by ensuring lower-cost power plants are dispatched before more expensive ones. The procurement of consultants to support the work has also stalled.
Meanwhile, ECG’s collection efficiency has declined to 85 percent, falling below the programme’s baseline of 86 percent and leaving the utility far from its target of 93 percent by the end of 2027.
The report repeatedly attributes many of these setbacks to delays in obtaining Commitment Authorizations from the Ministry of Finance, with the phrase appearing several times throughout the implementation assessment.
The World Bank also pointed to delays in integrating an Independent Power Producer invoicing system into ECG’s financial management platform due to funding challenges.
Financial pressures within the energy sector continue to mount. Combined losses by ECG and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) have risen to approximately $1.5 billion, significantly above the programme’s target of reducing losses to $525 million by the end of 2027.
According to the Bank, funding shortages have slowed the distribution of LPG stove packages to households, schools and caterers, while plans to install more than one million smart electricity meters, including those for government institutions, have also stalled.
The report further notes that new procurement directives and expenditure controls introduced by the Ministry of Finance, coupled with Ghana’s national elections and the transition to a new administration in early 2025, contributed to the delays. Internal implementation challenges within the agencies responsible for executing the programme also affected progress.
Despite the downgrade, the World Bank believes the programme can recover if coordination between government institutions and implementing agencies improves, particularly in relation to funding approvals and project execution.
The report comes at a time when pressure on Ghana’s energy sector remains high. Despite introducing the additional GH¢1 levy on petroleum products in 2025, the government still transferred GH¢12.9 billion from the national treasury to support energy sector payments during the year.
The World Bank says restoring the financial health of Ghana’s energy sector will require not only additional revenue but also consistent implementation of structural reforms aimed at improving operational efficiency and long-term financial sustainability.
JoyNews Research said it contacted both the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance for comment, but neither ministry had responded by the time the report was published.
Source: joynews
