Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Boakye-Appiah, has indicated that his outfit has not been sold out.
According to him, ECG continued to exist after the transfer of its electricity distribution services to Power Distribution Services (PDS).
He made this known at a media encounter on Thursday, June 6, 2019, in Accra.
The objective of the media encounter held at the Alisa Hotel in Accra was to inform stakeholders and the general public about ECG’s new role in Ghana’s power sector and assure them of the company’s continued existence following the transfer of its electricity distribution business to a concessionaire, Power Distribution Services (PDS) on March 1, 2019.
The transfer of the electricity services to PDS has been misconstrued by a section of the public to mean that ECG has been taken over by PDS.
But Mr. Boakye-Appiah insisted that “ECG has not been sold. ECG has not changed to PDS. ECG is still ECG. We are now an Asset Owner, Energy Trader and a provider of training and consultancy services among other future business lines.”
He added that Ghana’s energy sector has witnessed a major change in power distribution with the introduction of PDS Ghana Limited under a Concession Agreement which officially took effect on March 1, 2019.
He noted that ECG, which was until then the power distributor in Ghana, has not been sold or taken.
He indicated that the company “is still a going concern and is operating as a responsible asset owner, bulk energy trade, monitoring the concessionaire, and providing training and skills development for the energy sector in Ghana and beyond.
According to the MD, ECG would continue to play a key role in Ghana’s energy sector as a responsible asset owner safeguarding the value and condition of the distribution network and ensuring PDS compliance with the concession agreement.
In August 2014, the Government of Ghana signed the Compact II with the Millennium Challenge Corporation involving $498.2 million as the sum of the energy project.
“ECG will sell energy in bulk to PDS. PDS will in turn pay for the energy consumed and make lease payments to ECG for using ECG’s networks. PDS is now responsible for electrical network operations including regular maintenance, fault repairs, commercial operations,” he said.
BY Melvin Tarlue
