Energy Commission appoints ECG to take over from PDS on interim basis
The Board of the Energy Commission has asked the Electrical Company of Ghana (ECG) to temporarily assumed operations as Ghana’s power distribution company after Power Distribution Service’s (PDS) concession agreement with government was suspended on Tuesday.
The Energy Commission in a statement released last night announced its appointment of ECG to take over the operations of PDS on an interim basis.
The statement said, “In accordance with Clause 27 of the Electricity Sale Licence (Licence No: EC/ESL/02-19-001) issued to the Power Distribution Services Ghana Limited (PDS), the Energy Commission hereby appoints the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as the interim operator of the Electricity Retail Sale and Functions in the Southern Distribution Zone under Licence Number EC/ESL/02-19-001.”
The commission stressed the demand guarantees submitted by PDS to the ECG have been “disavowed.”
It subsequently directed the PDS to facilitate an easy transition for an ECG takeover of its operations.
“In consequence of the above, PDS is to facilitate and provide ECG with the needed access to all billing systems, metering operations, payment accounts required for the effective operation of the retail sales licence,” the statement said.
The government in a statement on Tuesday signed by Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced that PDS’ concession agreement with the Government of Ghana (GoG) was suspended after the latter discovered some breaches in the company’s obligation in the provision of payment securities.
The company in response to the government’s statement said it had always acted in good faith and “will continue to act in good faith at all times.”
The Power Distribution Services officially took over from the operations of the ECG in February 2019 after it won the bid to run the power distribution service in the southern part of the country.
The company was expected to have turnaround the operations of ECG which was facing challenges at the time and make it more efficient and profitable.
Minister for Energy, John Peter Amewu has indicated investigations conducted by the government has established that a document that was presented by PDS as a guarantee for the takeover of the ECG was forged.
Though the document indicated that a company in Qatar had guaranteed for PDS, the minister said the management of the Qatari company told the government it had no knowledge of the document.
Mr. Amewu has sent signal the government will prosecute anyone found to have engaged in the fraudulent act.
Meanwhile, former Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor has blamed the government for not doing due diligence before the PDS was asked to take over from the ECG.
According to him, those who signed the transaction agreement were either not ‘patriotic or irresponsible’ citizens.
Find below the statement by the Energy Commission of Ghana.
