The Senior Staff Association of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) has stepped up its resistance to the government’s proposed Private Sector Participation (PSP) policy, contending that the arrangement represents a full takeover of the company’s operations rather than a limited partnership.
Association Chairman, William Asare, argued that the official PSP framework contradicts earlier assurances by former President John Dramani Mahama, who had indicated that NEDCo and ECG staff would retain responsibility for technical operations while the private sector focused primarily on billing and revenue collection.
Mr. Asare maintained that the framework document submitted by the technical committee to the Energy Ministry tells a different story. “If you read the guiding framework document, you will realise it is contrary to what the president has told the Ghanaian public,” he said.
According to him, the framework explicitly states that the PSP operator would assume control from the bulk supply point—the very point where NEDCo’s operational mandate begins. “The president at the last meeting indicated that ECG and NEDCo workers would handle transformer maintenance while the private sector managed billing and collection. That is contrary to the document the PSP secretariat is implementing,” he added.
Mr Asare argued that under the proposed arrangement, the private operator would oversee all technical and commercial activities of the company, leaving NEDCo with virtually no operational role. “If the PSP is taking over from there and is responsible for all our operations, technical, commercial operations, then it is not participation, it is a complete takeover of our operations,” he stressed.
He questioned what role would remain for NEDCo’s more than 1,300 workers if the private sector assumes full operational control. “The question that we should be asking the government is what will be the work of NEDCo staff,” he said. He further criticised provisions in the framework, suggesting that NEDCo would remain only as an asset owner while the private operator manages daily operations.
“If you read the document, the document says that NEDCo will just remain asset owners and what will be the work of the asset owner? You own the assets, it ends there. The private sector is responsible for all our operations,” he added. The comments come amid growing resistance from staff groups within the Volta River Authority (VRA) and NEDCo over the government’s plan to introduce private sector participation into electricity distribution in northern Ghana.
The worker groups have described the policy as “full privatisation disguised as participation” and warned that it could leave many employees without meaningful responsibilities. Mr Asare also rejected suggestions that NEDCo lacks the capacity to improve efficiency and reduce power losses in its operational areas.
He said several regions under NEDCo are already meeting the distribution loss benchmark set by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC). “If you take all our regional operations, we are meeting the regulatory benchmark. PURC says that we should do a distribution loss of 21%. Go to Sunyani, go to Techiman, go to Upper West, we are meeting those benchmarks except Tamale,” he said.
According to him, NEDCo has made significant progress in reducing losses in Tamale, where losses previously stood at 45 per cent. “We have worked so hard to bring it to 37 per cent. We have demonstrated that we are capable of bringing down the losses and in particular in Tamale,” he stated.
The government has maintained that the PSP arrangement is intended to improve operational efficiency, strengthen electricity distribution and ensure sustainability in the power sector. However, labour unions insist the proposed model fails to address the unique operational and socio-economic challenges facing NEDCo’s service areas across northern Ghana.
Source: Abigail Arthur
