PURC hails ERERA for successful hosting of 9th forum in Ghana

The Executive Secretary of the Public Utility Regulation Commission (PURC), Dr. Ishmael Ackah, has shown appreciation to the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulation Authority (ERERA) following the successful hosting of the 9th edition of the ERERA forum in Ghana.

The two-day event, which brought the ECOWAS region together to deliberate on ways to improve the electricity market, came to an exciting end on Thursday, July 25, 2024.

Dr. Ackah conveyed his appreciation to ERERA for collaborating with PURC to host the prestigious event in Accra.

"I want to thank ERERA for the partnership and support in hosting this conference," he said during his closing remarks.

He further emphasized the need for a center for all regulatory commissions in the ECOWAS region.

According to Dr. Ackah, an Excellence Center, as suggested by the ERERA chairman, will improve development in the sector while urging members to learn each other's languages to ease communication.

"The ERERA chairman mentioned the need to set up a center, and I think it is a very good idea that we should support, especially to teach languages. We should learn the languages because it will help to promote the market we want to develop."

He assured the ECOWAS members of presenting a breakdown of successes and lessons at all ERERA forums at the next edition in 2025.

"Going forward, hopefully, next year, we will have a document on the journey we have made so far from the first time we had this forum to next year, which will be the 10th. What were the recommendations, and what have we achieved in the past 10 years for members to see the successes we have achieved and the lessons we have learned? I think it will be very, very important."

Speaking to the media, Mr. Laurent Tossou, ERERA chairman, noted that the regulatory governing body attained its objectives for the forum.

"All the countries were present. The institutions - producers, utilities, and regulators. All of them were present in this forum, so it is a very big achievement. Despite three countries not being here, we are working to convince them that we should be together and we should work together."

He mentioned the three main recommendations made by the members to ensure energy security and a free market in the region.

"On the achievement of the forum, everybody agreed on a few principles. What is the balance between national autonomy and the principle of free market operation? So they agreed that we should have a good balance and have a good operation to let the whole region get the benefit from the community."

"The second one is cooperation. We need to cooperate within the countries of ECOWAS but also international cooperation to see what is being done in other parts of the world in order to be sure that we are in line with good practices."

"The third one is to enhance the capacity of the region. The ambition of ERERA is to build an Excellence Center to surge development in the electricity field to ensure that we will cover all the schemes and develop the skills in the region."

Following the successful forum in Ghana, the mantle has been passed on to Ivory Coast, which will host the 10th edition in 2025.

EK