FOURTH ERERA FORUM ON REGIONAL ELECTRICITY REGULATION TO BEGIN IN BANJUL

BANJUL, Gambia, November 16, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Some 150 participants from West Africa and elsewhere are expected to attend the fourth annual Forum on regional electricity regulation of the ECOWAS Regional Regulatory Authority (ERERA), which will take place on 20th and 21st November 2013 in Banjul, The Gambia.

Designed to promote cooperation and exchange of information amongst the regulatory bodies of ECOWAS Member States, the two-day Forum will also serve as a platform for discussion aimed at regulators, operators, consumers and other stakeholders in the electricity sector in West Africa.

More specifically, the fourth Forum will examine the place, roles and responsibilities of ERERA and the national regulators in speeding up the establishment of a regional electricity market in West Africa through the theme, 'Fast-tracking the regional electricity market: the regulatory issues'.

Participants will critical explore such sub-themes as: the pre-requisites for establishing a regional power market, regional electricity market design and rules, funding mechanisms and regional power infrastructure development, network access and tariff-setting for transmission, as well as best contractual practices and conflict resolution methods.

The theme reflects ERERA's concern that regulation is central to the development process of the regional electricity market, which is being established to address the challenges of the limited size of most of the national markets within the region.

Major stakeholders to the Forum will be drawn from the energy sector of ECOWAS Member States, including the Ministries in charge of Energy and Finance, national regulatory authorities, utility companies, parliamentarians, academics , researchers, consumer groups and other civil society organizations, banks and financial institutions, regional and international institutions as well as development partners.