30 May 2017

Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) is expected to start its work by June.

In an interview with the Energy Advisor at the Department of Energy under the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Mr Freddie Motlhatlhedi said that they had been able to access funding through the 2017/18 budget.

He said the authority was established in 2016, but could not take off as it did not have funds to start operations.

Explaining the mandate of BERA, Mr Motlhatlhedi said the aim was to make sure that there was competition in the industry of energy, saying all along Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) had been the sole company allowed to generate and sell electricity.

He said in 2007 government decided to open a sector so that independent power producers would now be allowed to enter into the industry to generate electricity.

Mr Motlhatlhedi stated that BERA would bring transparency to all stakeholders in the energy sector in an effort to protect both the consumer, the government and electricity generating individuals.

He said any unfairness would be reported to the authority.

“The authority will be mandated to make sure that power producers follow set prices, and that will encourage fair competition,” he said.

He also said BERA existed to license and regulate companies seeking to generate power for both own use and for commercial purposes.

He mentioned that in the past, licenses to request regulation of electricity or application to license electricity was handled by the minister.

He said the generation that was applied for was up to 30 kilowatts, but it had been increased to 100 and above kilowatts.

Meanwhile, he said they were expecting that by end of June all board members would be available to run the authority. ENDS