Accra-Ghana, Jan. 18, GNA – Mr. Ebenezer Kofi Essienyi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), has called on ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) to speed up the approval process of the ECOWAS Regional Transmission Tariff.
He said it was to enable all stakeholders, especially transit countries, involved in the regional trade in electricity to be appropriately compensated.
According to him, the absence of an approved transmission tariff has created bottlenecks, which impede power trade flows in the region.
Mr. Essienyi made the call when he received a four-member delegation from ERERA led by its
Chairman, Mr. Laurent Tossou, who paid him a courtesy call on January 16, 2023, at the GRIDCo headquarters in Tema.
Other members of ERERA’s delegation were Regulatory Council Member, Dr Haliru Dikko, the Head of Administration and Finance, Mr. Ofosuhene Apenteng-Takyiako, and Communication Officer, Mr. Uwem Thompson.
Earlier, Mr. Tossou informed GRIDCo’s Chief Executive of the imminent launch of the second phase of the regional electricity market and requested a deeper collaboration with the company, considering its experience and strategic relevance to the development of the market.
Both Heads of Institutions discussed issues of mutual interests relating to the power sector in the region.
These included renewable energy, harmonization of national legal texts, data collection, infrastructural challenges, and capacity building programmes for power sector practitioners.
ERERA is mandated to regulate cross-border trade in electricity in West Africa and as part of its functions, ERERA is to approve critical documents for the development of the regional power market.
GRIDCo is to develop and promote the national grid to ensure competition in Ghana’s wholesale power market.
lts specific functions include ensuring transmission of electricity from wholesale suppliers, that is generating companies, to bulk customers; providing fair and non-discriminatory transmission services to all power market participants; as well as acquiring and managing assets, facilities and systems required to transmit electrical energy.
