Board Chairman of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Kweku Andoh Awotwi, has criticised the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) over what he said was a failure to carry out its mandate.

He has questioned the technical competence of some individuals at the PURC, lamenting on the inability to have credible utility regulatory systems that protect stakeholders.

“The question about the PURC; I think they have done a poor job. In other countries, these commissions are staffed by people who typically have retired and have spent 30 or 40 years in the business, know the industry inside out and understand the complexities of the business, but we have made these populist vehicles to please the people,” he said.

He made these comments at a public lecture organised by the Ghana@60 Committee on Thursday, October 26.

For him, PURC “has not been independent enough [and] they have not had the capacity enough to do the work they are supposed to do, which is a very strictly put together pricing regime which is fair”.

He also lamented the poor ability to implement the Automatic Adjustment Formula with several compliments from investors over the years in ensuring that they discharge the tasks they are mandated to do.