Staff of Power Distribution Services in Ghana to remain at post despite termination of contract, ECG discloses

This comes following the termination of the contract between the PDS and the government of Ghana.

The Public Relations Officer of ECG, Daniel Adjei Larbi said this while he spoke to Accra based Citi News after the company took over full operations of the PDS.

According to him, the company will strive to ensure that the conditions enjoyed by the staff of PDS will not be taken away from them.

He further noted that the ECG will comply with labour laws and ensure that all salaries and entitlements enjoyed by the PDS staff are maintained.

ECG officially takes over full activities of PDS

Following the government’s termination of the PDS concession agreement, ECG immediately assumed full control of electricity distribution business in the southern part of Ghana which was hitherto being handled by PDS.

Services such as metering, billing, distribution of bills and revenue collection were being undertaken by PDS but will now be done by ECG as was the case before the PDS concession agreement came into force.

Mr Adjei Larbi said, “whatever condition of service that they [PDS staff] are enjoying now, we are bringing it on board, that is not a problem at all,” he said.

Concerning the roles of the various staff, he said that there may be instances of “little alignments” to the roles played by some PDS officers.

“There may have been some conditions and other things there that made them [PDS staff] happy. I don’t think they were not happy with ECG [in the past]. ECG will do all within its power to make the workers better and not worse off,” Mr Adjei Larbi said.

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.

Private sector participation is a central reform under MCC’s Ghana Power Compact.

This is 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 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.

Suspension and termination of contract

The Government of Ghana had earlier suspended the PDS concession agreement over what it said was the discovery “of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees).”

The government, however, officially announced the termination of its power concession agreement with PDS in a statement dated Friday, October 18, 2019.

It said in the statement that the decision was taken at a meeting in the US with the Secretary to President Akufo-Addo, Nana Bediatuo Asante and officials of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.