The Gambia seeks Ghana's expertise on utility regulations

A high-powered delegation from The Gambia's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) has visited the country to acquaint itself with Ghana’s energy management and regulatory system.

The delegation, led by the Chairman of the PURA Board in The Gambia, Alieu Momodou Ngum, is to understudy the operations of the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) and Energy Commission to draw lessons to improve Gambia’s energy and utility regulations system.

Towards that, members of the delegation are being engaged by experts at the Centre of Excellence in Public Utility Regulation at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) through a capacity building approach for the next five days (between November 11 and 15, 2024)

The Executive Secretary of the PURC, Dr Ishmael Ackah, at the opening of the capacity building programme at GIMPA in Accra last Monday, stated that Ghana was committed to sharing expertise and best practices with its neighbours to support regional development and strengthen utility regulation in West Africa.

He said the engagement with the delegation had been divided into four sessions, including licensing regime, regulatory standards, technology-based regulations and tariff.

“PURC now uses technology to diversify most of our operations. For instance, we have installed SIM cards and other technologies in the transformers at Achimota to know when there is low current in the community.

“We also have the tariff reckoner and net metering reckoner that consumers can use to estimate their bills. And so, we believe that when it comes to using technology, PURC has become an effective regulator,” he added.

Dr Ackah said the engagement was aimed at enhancing the delegation's understanding of Ghana's PURC and Energy Commission operations, enabling them to draw valuable lessons for integration into their system.

“And so, we want the delegation to meet experts at the centre, here in GIMPA, to be able to understand Ghana’s story better from the ‘’goods’’ they can learn and those they must avoid.

“We are hoping to visit The Gambia to set up a complaints management system and other things to help improve their operations,” he said.

He expressed excitement about the decision of the PURA to choose Ghana as a place to learn rather than travelling outside Africa to seek such knowledge.

PURA repositioning

For his part, the Chairman of the PURA Board in The Gambia, Alieu Momodou Ngum, stated that the government of The Gambia was taking steps to reposition the PURA as a viable regulator to serve its people well.

He explained that The Gambia saw Ghana as the best place to learn from the best practices deployed over the years to improve the regulatory space.

“We chose Ghana because we see it as a country of best practice in Africa to help transform the management of utilities and other sectors in The Gambia,” he said.

He said the PURA was a multi sector regulator whose scope covered electricity, water, information and technology, downstream petroleum and, transport, among others.

“And so, the idea is to learn from Ghana where the PURC is focused on only water and electricity,” he added.