The new Chairman of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority, ERERA, Mr. Kocou Tossou, has assumed office.
Mr. Tossou officially received the baton of leadership of ERERA at a brief hand-over ceremony at the institution’s headquarters in Accra, Ghana.
He succeeded Professor Honoré Bogler who took office in April 2016, and during whose tenure the first phase of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Market was launched.
Mr. Tossou thanked all the actors who have contributed to the development of the regional power market, in particular the ECOWAS authorities, development partners and investors.
He noted that the launch of the second phase of the power market remained a challenge, and that “all the actors in the energy sector in West Africa have their eyes already focused on ERERA and the West African Power Pool (WAPP)”.
Mr. Tossou therefore appealed to the staff of ERERA and all other actors in the ECOWAS energy sector who are “concerned with guaranteeing sustainable access to electricity in terms of quantity, quality and affordable and competitive costs for the populations of the ECOWAS region”, to be part of the vision of developing a specific energy environment.
This specific energy environment aims to increase regional electricity, reduce the cost of electricity production, secure the supply of electrical energy, develop renewable energies and energy efficiency, restructure, strengthen and extend the electricity networks. It also targets to pursue and implement legal and institutional reforms of the electricity sub-sector conducive to a sustainable energy transition and increase the rate of access of Community citizens to electricity.
Mr. Tossou said that “these objectives can only be achieved by mobilising resources from the regulation of the energy market, the contribution of ECOWAS Member States, private investors, and development agencies as technical and financial partners.”
He expressed his desire to contribute to the construction of an open and competitive energy market for West Africa.
Also, he pledged his commitment, availability, and willingness to “listen to constructive proposals in the best interests of the peoples of the ECOWAS region.”
In his statement, Professor Bogler congratulated the new Chairman of ERERA on his appointment.
He stated that Mr. Tossou “undoubtedly has the technical and managerial capacities to lead ERERA, with the required efficiency and foresight, to achieve its general objectives which are the successful establishment of the Regional Electricity Market and the implementation of the regulation of that market.”
Professor Bogler expressed the hope that the advent of the second phase of the regional power market “would allow the financing of ERERA through the regulatory fees to be collected on electricity transmission tariffs, which is the guarantee of its autonomy of operation as per its founding regulations’.
The launch of the second phase of the market, now rescheduled for 2023, suffered some setbacks partly due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted the schedule of planned activities.
“It is now up to the new Chairman of ERERA, Mr. Tossou, to ensure that all the necessary measures are taken to achieve, at the right time, this important stage of development of the Regional Electricity Market and, at the same time, to put ERERA in a position to take charge of the effective regulation of the said regional market,” Professor Bogler stated.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Acting Head of Administration and Finance, Mr. Ofosuhene ApentengTakyiako, urged the new Chairman to “work together with others not only to achieve the vision but also for ERERA to be classified as the institution of choice among ECOWAS institutions and agencies”.
Mr. Tossou is the third substantive Chairman of ERERA.
The first Chairman, El Hadj Ibrahima Thiam, took office in March 2009 and handed over, in 2015, to the institution’s Regulatory Council Member, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Ikeonu who served in an acting capacity for some 10 months before passing the baton to Professor Honoré Bogler on April 15, 2016.
Mr. Laurent Tossou will work with the two other members of the current Regulatory Council composed of Dr. Haliru Dikko and Mr. Aly Mar Ndiaye.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
