Power consumers in Ghana are angry at the continued power outages across the country despite a new consortium taking over it’s power distributor.
Power Distribution Services, PDS Ghana Ltd under Philippines Meralco Consortium took over the previous Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) with the hope of improving distribution services.
But series of blackouts since the takeover this month has sparked outrage among Ghanaians.
Major blackout
On Tuesday significant parts of the country were plunged into darkness raising questions about the competence of the new power distributor.
But Spokesperson for the new company, William Boateng told local media the latest challenges with power distribution was due to some operational and technical challenges.
“Immediately the situation is rectified, power supply will be restored to affected customers. The inconvenience is very much regretted” Boateng told Accra-based Starr Fm.
Although power has been restored to parts of the country, not many consumers are happy with the services from the new company.
Angry reactions
One consumer Kwame Owusu wrote on Twitter that “What different thing will Power Distribution Service(PDS) Ghana Ltd do that ECG hasn’t done . It’s the same personal just change of name for chop chop.”
“My light went off, came on,went,came,went,went, came,came,came,went,went,came and went kwraa at 9pm and all I could see in the dark was PDS, We are here to serve u. Eeei, improvement mpo nie. If we are serious small, Ghana we can manage our own affairs better,” wrote another consumer called Kofi Amoah.
Another consumer also wrote “Should Ghana be a software, no end-user would go in for it. It needs extremely debugging.”
The take over
PDS on March 1 took over from the Electricity Company of Ghana to manage its operations.
The PDS Ghana Ltd will be in charge of power distribution in Ghana for the next 20 years.
The Meralco consortium will be injecting a minimum of $580 million into Ghana’s power sector for the first five years of operation.
PDS would operate and maintain existing ECG assets and provide sustainability for new assets for the next 20 years.
Meralco Consortium partnered AEnergia SA, an Angolan company, and three Ghanaian companies; TG Energy solution Ghana Limited, Santa Power limited and GTS Power Limited to form PDS.
Source: Africafeeds.com
