ECG takeover: MiDA postpones February 1 date
The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has postponed the takeover of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) by Power Distribution Services (PDS).
The takeover was scheduled to have occurred on February 1.
A statement from the authority copied to Oman FM, said the decision was taken at a Special Meeting on Thursday 31st January 2019.
It explained that the Board of Directors of the Millennium Development Authority, (MiDA) acknowledged “the significant progress made by all the Stakeholders involved in the ECG PSP Transaction towards meeting various Conditions Precedent to the transfer of the Assets and Operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd (ECG) to Messrs Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Ltd”.
“MiDA is confident that the transfer will occur in the next few weeks. The Board approved an extension of time to allow the Parties and Stakeholders, namely Government of Ghana (GoG), ECG and PDS, to conclude their Consultations and finalize work on some critical aspects of the Transaction, in order to facilitate a smooth transfer”.
“MiDA wishes to assure Ghanaians that it will continue to adhere to, and uphold high standards of transparency throughout the process. MiDA will announce a new Transfer Date in early February,” it said.
This latest move comes after the CEO of MiDA, Martin Eson-Benjamin announced that PDS will takeover the operations, assets and management of ECG on February 1.
“We have gone through many processes and now I can tell you that everything is almost completed for the new company to take over on February 1. The takeover will bring efficiency and we will all see the improvement in the new company,” Mr. Eson-Benjamin said earlier.
Background
The journey to get a private sector player to manage the affairs of the ECG started after Ghana won the power compact two which is expected to inject some 900 million dollars into the ECG. Ghana signed the Power Compact with the United States of America acting through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent United States government agency, on the sidelines of the US Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC on August 5, 2014.
Under the Power Compact, six projects are being implemented to address the root causes of the unavailability and unreliability of power in Ghana.
The project include ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, NEDCo Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project, and Access Project.
The rest are Power Generation Sector Improvement Project and Energy Efficiency, and Demand Side Management Project.
Ghana earns US$ 813.95 million from 2018 oil liftings
In 2018, Ghana earned a total of US$ 813.95 million from crude oil exports representing lifting proceeds received into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF). This is according to Bank of Ghana’s (BoG’s) Petroleum Holding Fund and Ghana Petroleum Funds Semi-Annual Report from July 2 to December 31, 2018.
The PHF received a total amount of US$423.93 million from lifting proceeds in the second half compared to receipts of US$390.02 million in the first half, 2018.
Total receipts from TEN (7th to 9th liftings) were US$223.60 million compared to US$123.88 million received in the first half of 2018 (5th and 6th TEN liftings), whilst receipts from Jubilee (44th to 46th) were US$200.32 million compared to US$203.10 million received in first half 2018 (41st to 43rd lifting’s).
It has been explained that the higher lifting receipts during the second half of the year were predominantly as a result of higher crude oil prices.
Other Income
During the period under review, a total amount of US$77.34 million was received from various entities for the payment of surface rental, corporation income tax, and interest accrued on the PHF account.
The amounts received in respect of other income comprised of US$0.317 million from surface rental and US$76.14 million from corporation income tax. In addition, interest of US$0.880 million was earned on undistributed funds held in the PHF.
Allocations
Total amount distributed from the PHF during the period was US$501.26 million. This comprised proceeds of the 44th, 45th and 46th parcels lifted from Jubilee totalling US$203.10 million, proceeds of the 5th and 6th liftings from TEN totalling US$123.88 million and the first SGN lifting amounting to US$63.03 million.
Other income distributed during the period was US$73.55 million.
Total amount received by ABFA for the second half was US$117.55 million. ABFA target was met for the second half of 2018.
GNPC received an amount of US$162.45 million for its Carried and Participating Interest (CAPI) and Equity Finance Cost (EFC) in the second half of 2018 compared to US$142.82 million in the same period of 2017.
The Ghana Stabilisation Fund and the Ghana Heritage Fund received US$154.88 million and US$66.38 million respectively in the second half of 2018 compared to US$150.84 million and US$64.65 million respectively received in the first half of 2018.
Contaminated fuel saga: Committee report reveals it was not sold to the market – BOST MD
The Deputy Minister for Energy in-charge of Petroleum, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has hinted of a possible prosecution of some persons whose actions and decisions resulted in serious financial breaches at the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST).
According to him, following the contaminated fuel saga at BOST; two committees were set up explaining that the first one which was a Ministerial Committee was to look into the contaminated fuel issue, while the other one which was set up by President Akufo-Addo was tasked to look into the financial aspect of BOST operations.
Dr Amin Adam who said the recommendations in the two reports are being implemented, however, noted that the Presidential Committee made serious findings about some transactions which occurred during the previous regime.
“The financial issues in BOST were very serious including transactions that are being investigated today for possible prosecution.
“Some of the transactions were done between BOST and the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR). You will remember that we had one managing director for the two companies and it was during that time such questionable transactions took place,” Dr Mohammed Amin revealed this at a Meet The Press series in Accra Tuesday.
He however could not give details of the ongoing investigations.
It would be recalled that sometimes last year Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) was on the heels of Kingsley Kwame Awuah-Darko, the immediate-past Managing Director (MD) of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company Limited, over some alleged payments and transactions that occurred during his tenure.
In one instance, he allegedly transferred more than GHC40m into an account named “Chief of Staff’s Sundry Account” which the BOST boss regularly lodged money into and reportedly cashed by the Office of the Chief of Staff under President John Mahama.
The transactions were carried out under dubious circumstances.
According to letters allegedly signed by Mr Awuah-Darko, the payments were “monies accrued from the security fees taken from Bulk Oil Distribution Companies(BDCs) invoices to effect payments on the cost of petroleum products supplied by Goil.”
The Managing Director of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), George Mensah Okley, has disclosed that the controversial contaminated or off-spec products which were sold by his predecessor did not find their way on the market as it was alleged.
Mr. George Mensah Okley made the revelation at the ‘Meet The Press’ series at the Ministry of Information on Tuesday, February 5, 2019.
It would be recalled that the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), during the latter part of 2018, alleged that some 600,000 litres of contaminated fuel at Zup Oil had disappeared.
Executive Director of COPEC Mr. Duncan Amoah, in a tirade of attack on BOST, alleged that the products had been brought onto the market and cautioned Ghanaians to be mindful of the fuel they bought.
BOST was rife in the news in June 2017 for causing the country to lose some GHc7 million in revenue for allegedly selling some five million litres of contaminated fuel at a cheap price to some two unlicensed companies [at the time] namely, Movenpinaa and Zup Oil, set up days before the sale.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) confirmed that the two companies were not licensed.
There were calls for the then BOST MD, Alfred Obeng Boateng, to be interdicted. However, he was cleared for no wrongdoing by the Ministry of Energy.
Fast forward to 2018, the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), again, accused the then MD, Alfred Obeng Boateng, of financial malfeasance.
COPEC, in April 2018, claimed Ghana lost about GHc23 million in revenue when 1.8 million barrels of crude oil was sold at a discount to an unlicensed company.
Alfred Obeng Boateng slammed the accusations, describing them as baseless. Nonetheless, COPEC petitioned the Special Prosecutor to investigate the allegations.
Mr. Obeng was subsequently sacked by the President and named George Mensah Oakley as the new MD.
Responding to a question posed to him by Oman FM’s Michael Creg Afful, the Managing Director of BOST refuted the claims that the off-spec products were sold onto the market.
According to him, a committee that was chaired by the CEO of Chamber of Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (CBOD), Senyo Hosi, to investigate the issue established the fact that the products were not sold onto the market.
“The off-spec products were not sold onto the market as it was reported when it was happening,” he stressed.
He stated that the committee recommended that the products be delivered to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to be refined.
Mr. George Mensah Okley noted that management had already paid the refined charges and are only waiting for the products to be evacuated to TOR.
ECG embarks on mass customer data collection exercise
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has embarked on a three months special Data Collection exercise, which is expected to end by March 31, throughout its operational areas, to boost service delivery and deepen communication with customers.
The exercise would involve Data Collection from all categories of customers, both prepaid and postpaid meter users, Mrs Theresa Osabutey, the ECG Public Relations Manager, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview on Tuesday.
She said the exercise was to help the utility service provider ascertain the whereabouts and the current status of its meters.
She said customers are expected to furnish the deployed Data Collectors with details such as their names, telephone numbers, addresses, and email addresses, as well as other relevant information, to enable ECG to send information directly to them on a regular basis.
Mrs Osabutey said ECG previously embarked on such exercise but only focused on some operational regions and districts, however, this year’s exercise was expected to cover every operational area of the company.
The ECG Data Collection, she said, was being undertaken concurrently within “our exceptional zone of Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Central, and Western regions with the exception of the northern zone, which operates under the different power supply”.
Mrs Osabutey advised customers to inspect the credentials of the officials before giving them the information and also urged the ECG Data Collectors to always introduce themselves before soliciting for the information.
Mr Isaac Nurris Ainooson, the ECG Accra East Region Public Relations Officer, told the GNA that customers stand to benefit from the exercise as “it will enable ECG officials issue bill alerts to customers and communicate any other form of information that would be helpful.”
“In our part of the world, people rent houses today and before you know it, they have moved out; it is sometimes even difficult to get the owners of the houses. You end up sending particular information to that house and realise the tenant has moved out.”
“This issue is what instructed this whole exercise of tracking the individual by collecting all the necessary personal information so that we can personally interact with them as and when the need be.”