ECOWAS Parliament's Joint Committees Meeting Freetown, Sierra Leone March 20 to 25, 2023

Theme: "Building the regional electricity market for a sustainable energy transition"

The West African Power Pool (WAPP) took part in the ECOWAS Parliament's Joint Committees Meeting held in Freetown, Sierra Leone from 20 to 25 March 2023. The WAPP was represented by the PIPES Department and ICC of the WAPP Secretariat.

The Theme for the ECOWAS Parliament's Joint Committees (JC) Meeting is “Building The Regional Electricity Market for a Sustainable Energy Transition"

The Objective of the meeting was to inform Parliamentarians of the strategy implemented by ECOWAS to ensure a regular, reliable and economic supply of electricity to member states and to promote a sustainable and equitable energy transition with the effective participation of the private sector in the development of the energy sector in West Africa.

The presentations were made by WAPP as well as other resource persons from ECOWAS specialized institutions and experts from the energy sector. They allowed parliamentarians to exchange views on the main theme of the meeting. The key presentations focused on:

- “The state of the implementation of the regional electricity market" presented by Mr. Sié KAM, Head of Customer and Market Division, (WAPP).
- "Provisions to establish an appropriate institutional and legal environment for the development of the West African electricity sector" Presentation by Oumar BANGOURA, Legal Expert, (ERERA).
- Mobilization and securing of financing for the realization of regional infrastructures for the production and transport of electricity" presented by Dr Mawufemo MODJINOU, Project Coordinator, (WAPP).

Following the exchanges between the Parliamentarians and presenters, the following recommendations were given:

First to the attention of ECOWAS member states, namely:

1. Strengthen the legal and institutional framework and the economic conditions for mobilizing and securing investment in the electricity sector;
2. Adopt the necessary legislative and regulatory measures to criminalize damage to electricity network installations, electricity theft and fraud;
3. Continue to improve the financial viability of electricity distribution utilities and reform their governance to enable them to better participate in the ECOWAS regional electricity market;
4. Adopt the necessary legislative and regulatory measures to implement the principle of third party access to the electricity networks;
5. Take the necessary measures to transpose the harmonization measures of the regional legislative, legal, regulatory and institutional framework in favor of renewable energies with a focus on Community projects.
6. Establish an enabling legal framework and incentives for public-private partnership in the development of the electricity sector to accelerate the transition to more sustainable forms of energy production and consumption.

Secondly to the attention of the ECOWAS Commission, namely:

1. Work towards the operationalization of the ECOWAS Transport and Energy Sector Development Fund (ETSDF) dedicated to the financing of regional infrastructure development in the transport and energy sectors in order to enable, among others, energy sector institutions to have resources for the preparation and implementation of projects and programs
2. Continue to build the capacity of the staff of the specialized institutions of the energy sector in order to have competent human resources in tune with the evolution of the electricity industry with the aim of removing the human obstacles that could hinder the establishment and efficient functioning of the Regional Electricity Market in West Africa.
3. Accelerate the adoption of Community texts relating to the governance of the energy sector and strengthen the participatory process for the appropriation of norms, rules and decisions by all regional and national energy sector actors.

End thirdly to the attention of ECOWAS Parliament, namely:

1. Organize a parliamentary fact-finding mission to the West African Power Pool (WAPP) Information and Coordination Center (ICC) under construction in Abomey-Calavi, Benin, to assess the progress of the centre's work, the establishment of which is a major step towards achieving the goal of regional electricity integration.
2. Support the advocacy of ECOWAS specialized institutions and agencies in the energy sector for the adoption of legislative and regulatory texts and in the mobilization of material, financial and human resources necessary for their efficient functioning.

At the end of the, the Joint Committee warmly congratulated the Presenters/Speakers for the quality of their presentations and the relevance of the answers given to the various concerns expressed by Honorable Members.