ECG deal: 6 shortlisted

Out of the over 60 companies that expressed interest in the Private Sector Participation (PSP) in the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has shortlisted six, out of which one will eventually be selected as the concessionaire.

Two of the companies are consortiums while the remaining four are bidding individually.

The two consortiums have Ghanaian addresses, an indication that they are registered in Ghana and probably have Ghanaian interests.

The companies are Manila Electric Company from the Philippines; Ch Group/Edf Sa/Lmi Holdings/Veolia Sa with Ghanaian address; Engie Energie Services, SA; from France, Bxc Company Ghana Ltd /Xiaocheng Technology Stock Company Limited, registered and operating in Ghana; Enel S.P.A.from Italy; and Tata Power Company Limited from India.

Ing. Owura Kwaku Sarfo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MIDA, announced this in a document posted on MiDA website.

The document is titled ‘Concession for the management of, operation of, and investments in the electricity distribution business of the Electricity Company of Ghana, Pre-qualification of applicants and release of RFP’.

Proposals document issued

According to the document, the request for proposals document was issued to the shortlisted entities on Tuesday, August 30, 2016. MiDA requires that the acceptable PSP should have local participation at both ownership and management levels.

It explained that the shortlist was arrived at after the completion of Evaluation of Pre-Qualification Applications.

In all, 11 companies took partin the Request for Qualification for Concession for the Management of, Operationof, and Investments in the Electricity Distribution Business of the Electricity Company ofGhana, for which submissions closed on May 9, 2016.

Concession to take off in January 2017

Barring any last-minute hitches, ECG should be handed over to a concessionaire in January 2017.

2-Day strike

Staff of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), underthe Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU), are opposed to the concession and commenced a two-day strike starting from last Friday and will end by close of work today.

Customers of ECG were hard hit by last Friday’s strike. All services were suspended and customers whose credit ran out were stranded at ECG offices in a bid to buy prepaid credit.

3-Hour demo

Two weeks ago, PUWU embarked on a three-day nationwide demonstration to protest the privatisation of ECG and demand the review of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, which they claimed has the roadmap for massive lay-offs.

The exercise had all offices of ECG across the country closed for up to three hours.

However, MIDA downplayed assertions that the MCC compact will impact negatively on ECG and result in lay-offs adding, that the concession arrangement will create more jobs in the power sector.

The 6 shortlisted companies

Bxc Company Ghana Ltd/Xiaocheng Technology Stock Company Limited

Bxc Ghana Limited (BXC), a company registered in the Republic of Ghana, is a subsidiary of Xiaocheng Electronic Technology Stock Co. Ltd, which is in the business of manufacturing and deploying highly efficient prepayment metering systems and management of power supply across the world.

Bxc was established in 2010 in Ghana by a group of Chinese investors, who have trained and used Ghanaians to implement major projects in Ghana.

In September 2011, Bxc and the ECG signed an agreement for 10 years,duringwhich Bxc shall engage in System Loss Reduction in the Teshie and Bortianor areas; the commercial aim of which was to share proportional losses recovered by the project while technically improving the infrastructure and deploying more modern systems of power distribution management.

Aiming to reduce the losses, Bxc co-operated with ECG quite well. Currently, the outcome of the project has been very good. However, both Bxc and ECG agree that there are challenges which demand greater Bxc and ECG co-ordination in order to minimise the losses and maximise the proceeds.

Manila Electric Company

Manila Electric Company is the largest electric distribution company in the Philippines, covering 36 cities and 75 municipalities, including Metro Manila.

It has been in service for 113 years now and serves almost 5.8 million customers.

The companyhas market capitalisation of $7.7 billion as at year-end 2015.

ENGIE Energie Services S.A.

ENGIE Energie Services S.A. designs and operates energy services for businesses and local authorities, as well as public and private clients.

It provides services related to climate control, refrigeration and fire protection, industrial maintenance, electrical installations and integrated systems, urban heating and cooling networks, public transportation and communication systems, and energy. In addition, it also providesfacilities management solutions and installation diagnostics, multi-fluid and multi-site analyses, forward-planning implementation, energy and technical services management, energy performance contracts, smart management of technical installations, energy mix optimisation integrating local, renewable energy sources, user monitoring systems, and information systems.

ENGIE Energie Services S.A. was formerly known as GDF Suez Energie Services SA and changed its name to ENGIE Energie Services S.A.

The company was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Puteaux, France. ENGIE Energie Services S.A. operates as a subsidiary of ENGIE SA.

Enel S.P.A.

Enel is Italy’s largest power company and Europe’s second listed utility by installed capacity.

It is an integrated player which produces, distributes and sells electricity and gas.

Further to the acquisition of the Spanish utility Endesa, Enel has now a presence in over 30 countries with nearly 89GW of net installed capacity and serves nearly 61 million customers.

Listed on the Milan stock exchange since 1999, Enel has the largest number of shareholders of any Italian company, at some 1.1 million retail and institutional investors in 2015.

Enel is also the second-largest Italian operator in the natural gas market, with approximately 2.6 million customers and a 10% market share in terms of volume.

Tata Power Company Limited

Tata Power had its inception in 1915, establishing India's first large hydro-electric project in Khopoli, Maharashtra and driven by its late founder, Shri Jamshetji N. Tata's pioneering vision.

Tata Power is India’s largest integrated power company with a growing international presence.

The company, together with its subsidiaries and jointly controlled entities, has an installed gross generation capacity of 9432MW and a presence in all the segments of the power sector vizFuel Security and Logistics, Generation (thermal, hydro, solar and wind), Transmission, Distribution and Trading.

It has successful public-private partnerships in Generation, Transmission and Distribution in India; namely, “Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited" with Delhi Vidyut Board for distribution in North Delhi, 'Powerlinks Transmission Ltd.' with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. for evacuation of Power from Tala hydro plant in Bhutan to Delhi, and 'Maithon Power Ltd.' with Damodar Valley Corporation for a 1050MW Mega Power Project at Jharkhand.

Tata Power is serving more than 2.6 million distribution consumers in India and has developed the country’s first 4000MW Ultra Mega Power Project at Mundra (Gujarat) based on super-critical technology.

It is also one of the largest renewable energy players in India with a clean energy portfolio of 1749MW.

Its international presence includes strategic investments in Indonesia through a 30% stake in the leading coal company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), 26% stake in mines at PT Baramulti Suksessarana Tbk ("BSSR"); in Singapore through Trust Energy Resources to securitise coal supply and the shipping of coal for its thermal power generation operations; in South Africa through a joint venture called ‘Cennergi’ to develop projects in sub-Sahara Africa; in Zambia through 50:50 joint venture with ZESCO for 120MW Hydro, which has become operational in 2016; in Georgia through AGL, which is a joint venture with Clean Energy, Norway & IFC for development of 185MW hydro project, which is scheduled to be commissioned in 2016; in Australia through investments in enhanced geothermal and clean coal technologies; and in Bhutan through a hydro project in partnership with The Royal Government of Bhutan.

With its track record of technology leadership, project execution excellence, world class safety processes, customer care and driving green initiatives, Tata Power is poised for a multi-fold growth and committed to 'lighting up lives' for generations to come”.