The $498 million compact was established to promote the use of private sector partnerships; improve the quality and reliability of power distribution systems; improve access to legal connections for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises; and promote energy efficiency to manage demand growth.

The compact, which entered into force in September 2016 and is scheduled to end in September 2021, comprised the following four projects:

1. The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Financial and Operational Turnaround Project (EFOT), designed to improve ECG’s management and efficiency by introducing private sector participation, reducing outages and commercial and technical losses, and modernizing the electricity distribution system.
2. The Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project, designed to promote sustainability, transparency, and accountability in the power sector through strengthening regulatory institutions and processes, reviewing and restructuring tariffs, and improving the environment for private sector investment.
3. The Access Project, which targets MSMEs in markets and economic enclaves in urban and peri-urban areas with activities to increase legal connections and improve security lighting.
4. The Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management (EEDSM) Project, which seeks to improve building and appliance efficiency and reduce energy wastage through energy audits, standards and labels for energy efficient devices, upgrades to street lighting, and education and public information activities.

Mathematica is designing and implementing rigorous mixed-methods evaluations of these projects over a ten year period. Evaluation activities include a series of performance evaluations, one for each project, as well as an impact evaluation of the effects of compact investments on the economic outcomes of end users. The evaluations will make use of qualitative and quantitative data, including data from household and enterprise surveys.