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.