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| Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam |
Adnan Adams Mohammed
Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has called for the merger between the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) and the Energy Commission as regulators in the power utilities sector.
The call was backed with explanation that, the merger will help “lessen the burden power sector investors go through” to secure approvals for projects and tariffs setting.
PURC and the Energy Commission are the two main regulatory agencies in the power sector, responsible for technical regulation—including licensing and setting of standards—and economic regulation, respectively.
“If we want to avoid over-regulation, then we need a one-stop shop where both economic and technical regulation takes place. We learnt our lessons when we decided to set up Petroleum Commission”, the Deputy minister-designate for Energy noted during his vetting for reappointment to the same portfolio under the term of the Akufo Addo administration. “There, we decided to add technical and economic regulation in one institution, and this is the proposal that we discussed for the merger of PURC and the Energy Commission.”
On the reported lack of collaboration between Italian oil major Eni and Ghanaian operator Springfield towards unitisation of the Sankofa-Gye Nyame and Afina oil fields, Dr. Amin Adam stated: “I wish commercial partners cease releasing statements because it is a sensitive matter as government moves to negotiate between the two parties.”
Government last year directed Eni and Springfield to begin talks to combine their adjacent oil and gas fields, but the two are yet to reach an agreement.
Analysts say unitisation will optimise the exploitation of the fields and increase the benefits to government.
