Officials from EMOP and the participants
The Electricity Market Oversight Panel (EMOP) has indicated its commitment to ensure adequate, reliable and competitively priced electricity power, particularly for bulk electricity consumers.
EMOP was established by the Energy Commission as mandated by regulation 16 of the Electricity Regulation 2008 (L.I. 1937) to supervise the operation and administration of the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM).
The EMOP also advises the Energy Commission regarding the operation and administration of WEM.
It seeks to monitor the general performance of electricity transmission, ensures smooth and efficient operation of the wholesale electricity market.
EMOP Administrator, Eric Kyem, who revealed this, explained that since there were electricity generators and electricity consumers, the interaction between the two established the electricity market.
The EMOP Administrator was speaking to journalists in an interview after he took some representatives from mining companies who are bulk electricity consumers in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region through the functions of EMOP.
He noted that the transmission aspect of electricity was purely a monopoly which was only done by the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), while the distribution aspect had three companies licensed by the Energy Commission to do the distribution activities.
He mentioned the companies as the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) and Enclave Power Company in the Tema enclave.
“So basically there is private sector engagement both in the generation and distribution aspects”, he added.
He continued: “So the electricity producers are licensed by the Energy Commission to generate their power. The Energy Commission also licenses some categories of customers who had a minimum amount of consumption as bulk customers. The customers include mining companies, factories and industries”.
He explained that the LI 1937 set up the wholesale electricity market to ensure that from the generation of power to its consumption was streamlined to ensure competitiveness and efficiency in the system.
He added that the panel was set up to ensure fairness, transparency and access to information in the wholesale electricity market.
He mentioned that EMOP would also facilitate wholesale electricity trading and to allow for private sector investment and competition in the procurement of electricity in Ghana.
He indicated that the 11-member panel catered for by law included representatives from all the market participants.
He mentioned them as the Energy Commission, Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), GRIDCo, bulk customers, wholesale suppliers, WEM and the EMOP Administrator.
The participants welcomed the initiative and believed that EMOP would ensure the effective and consistent application of the rules and standards by the utility and make appropriate recommendations to the Energy Commission.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Tarkwa