PDS leadership intact despite ECG takeover – Oppong Nkrumah

Information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said there will be no change in leadership as ECG takes over the management of power distribution in the country from PDS.

“I’m not aware of change in leadership at the firm. My understanding is that nothing changes, I do not have the understanding that there will be a change in leadership,” he told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Thursday.

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has announced that it has terminated its Private Sector Participation Transaction Agreements with Power Distribution Services (PDS) effective Wednesday, October 23.

A statement by the ECG stated that the company “has therefore assumed full operational and financial control of the electricity distribution business in the Southern Zone of Ghana with immediate effect.”

The statement also directed all customers and stakeholders to directly engage ECG in their normal business activities which include but are not limited to the following:

Metering

Billing

Distribution of bills

Bill reconciliation

Revenue collection

New Service connections

Disconnections and reconnections

Faulty meter replacements

Network faults and repairs

Network Operations, Maintenance, Expansion and Rehabilitation.

Complaints and fault reporting to the call centres

Any other related services

In this regard, all payments in respect of power purchases and other related activities should take place at:

ECG Regional and District Offices

ECG existing Customer Service Centres

ECG licensed vending stations

ECG operated Cash Points

ECG authorized Banks



The statement added that “all cheques issued in respect of power purchases and other related activities should be in the sole name of Electricity Company of Ghana Limited…all assets currently in the name of PDS revert to ECG with immediate effect and will be rebranded in accordance with the decision over the next few weeks.

Background

On March 1, 2019, Ghana Power Distribution Services, Ltd. (PDS) assumed operation and management of the staff and assets of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) under a 20-year concession agreement.

According to the Millenium Challenge Compact, Private sector participation is a central reform under MCC’s Ghana Power Compact. This was critical to the long-term sustainability of related infrastructure investments and the financial recovery of the energy sector in Ghana.

The Compact comprised two tranches of funding: $308 million available upon the official start of the current Compact, and a second tranche of $190 million, which was available upon a successfully executed concession agreement, which the United States maintains occurred on March 1, 2019.