Category : News

The ECOWAS Parliament has pledged to collaborate with ERERA to ensure that the legislative frameworks of ECOWAS Member States are aligned to promote the ECOWAS vision of an efficient and integrated power pool to solve the energy deficiency challenge in the region.
ERERA’s Acting Chairperson, Mrs. Ifey Ikeonu, during a courtesy call to the ECOWAS Parliament on 22^nd October 2015 briefed the Speaker of the Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on current developments with regards to ERERA’s mandate of ensuring the development of the ECOWAS regional electricity market by putting in place the enabling legal.

She said the regulatory framework would attract private sector investment into the power sector, while also improving the services of government owned utilities.

While commending ERERA for the steps it has so far taken, the Speaker noted the challenges ERERA will face in establishing a harmonized regulatory framework for cross-border electricity trading and promised that the ECOWAS Parliament will do what is necessary to facilitate the enabling legislative environment to assist ERERA in fulfilling its mandate.

The Acting Chairperson of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA), Mrs. Ifeyinwa Ikeonu, has stated that the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has a “big role to play in the regional electricity trading arrangement in order to promote confidence in the process and its functioning”.
Mrs. Ikeonu, who led a three-member ERERA delegation, was speaking during a courtesy visit to the Court on Tuesday, 20th October 2015.

She explained that the visit was to sensitize the Court on its dual role as an appellate institution for disputes relating to energy trading in the region and its responsibility for administering the oath of office on members of ERERA’s Regulatory Council.

She told the judges of the Court that ERERA’s core functions include the development of a framework for electricity trading, the development of market rules, the creation of a conducive business environment to attract investors to the energy sector, as well as a quasi–judicial function of managing disputes arising from cross-border power trading.

She said the first phase of the electricity market would be launched next year.

In her response, the President of the Community Court of Justice, Honourable Justice Maria Do Ceu Silva Monteiro, said the visit had enabled judges of the Court to gain a better understanding of the operations of ERERA.

She also pledged the Court’s commitment to the collaboration between the two institutions and assured that the Court would faithfully discharge its appellate jurisdiction in disputes involving parties to the power trading arrangements based on the relevant ECOWAS instruments.

The Acting Chairperson of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA), Mrs. Ifeyinwa Ikeonu, has called on key players in the energy sector in Africa to adopt long-term approach to power planning in order to address, in an efficient manner, the energy challenges on the continent.

A forward-looking planning together with a credible regulatory governance will help ensure sustainability of energy access and affordability to all citizens.

Mrs. Ikeonu was addressing a section of the media at the end of a one-day meeting with a three member delegation from the Electricity Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) of Turkey on Tuesday, 8th September 2015 at the ERERA headquarters in Accra, Ghana.

ERERA officials, led by Acting Chairperson, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Ikeonu and her colleague Regulatory Council Member, Mr. Alagi Gaye, on 8^th September 2015 paid a courtesy call with visiting Turkish delegation from the Electricity Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) on the Acting Executive Secretary of the Energy Commission of Ghana, Mr. Michael Opam, with whom they exchanged experiences on electricity regulatory practices in West Africa and Turkey.

Mrs. Ikeonu explained that the visit of the Turkish delegation was part of efforts to finalize a report on the G20 energy access programme for sub-Saharan countries, including the regulatory aspects of energy access.

The working visit was also to strengthen relations between EMRA and ERERA. Both institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 27th October 2014. Part of the engagement include strengthening of the institutional framework within the electricity sector of ECOWAS Member States.