DESPITE THE recent suspension of its power concession agreement by the Government of Ghana, Power Distribution Services (PDS) is still expected to provide a number of electricity services in the country.
This was made known in a joint press release by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and PDS.
According to the release, PDS would undertake all activities relating to electricity retail sales on behalf of ECG.
The services, the statement pointed out, include, meter reading, billing, distribution of bills, bill reconciliation , revenue collection, new service connections, disconnections and reconnections, faulty meter replacements, network faults and repairs, among others.
The release indicated that the move was to ensure that there was no disruption of power supply and service delivery to consumers.
“This interim arrangement shall be in force from 8th August, 2019 until the reversal or otherwise by the Energy Commission,” the release indicated.
Suspension
Government had on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, announced the suspension of the power concession agreement in a statement signed by Mr. Oppong Nkrumah.
An investigation was launched into the scandal and later Government announced that it will complete its full scale inquiry into detected breaches of the power concession agreement with the PDS within 30-days.
Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah made the announcement on Thursday, August 1, 2019, in Accra, two days after the deal was suspended.
The statement had indicated that the suspension followed the detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of the Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees) for the transaction which have been discovered upon further due diligence.
“The Demand Guarantees were key prerequisites for the lease of assets on 1st March, 2019 to secure the assets that were transferred to the concessionaire,” the statement said.
BY Melvin Tarlue