The Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC) has levied a US$10,000 fine against the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) for failing to comply with Terms and Conditions under the various licenses issued the Corporation.
The LERC mandated that the fine against the Corporation be paid into LERC’s account no later than September 10, 2021.
The Commission’s decision to impose monetary fine against the LEC is in accordance with “Section 6.12 (Noncompliance/Penalties and Fines)” of the 2015 Electricity Law of Liberia (ELL) and Regulation 12 (Penalties and Fines) of the 2020 September Electricity Licensing Regulations (ELR).
In a communication to LEC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paschal Buckley, the Commission’s Managing Director Augustus V. Goanue pointed out that the Corporation has “failed to comply with Reporting Obligations and Performance Evaluation as enshrined in its Generation-Hydro, Generation-Thermal, Import, Transmission, Transmission System Operator and Distribution licenses that were issued on 9 March 2021”.
Managing Director Goanue, acting upon the Board of Commissioners’ Resolution, pointed out that the Corporation’s noncompliance is in violation of “Section 19 (Compliance Monitoring and Reporting)” of the Terms and Conditions of its various licenses.
The Commission is therefore calling on the management of the Corporation to “comply with the Terms and Conditions of the various licenses by submitting required reports no later than Wednesday, September 15 and that failure to comply shall lead to additional punitive actions consistent with the 2015 ELL and ELR.”
The Commission is also urging all licensed operators to adhere to the electricity law and abide by the terms and conditions of their licenses which are required under Performance Evaluation and Reporting Obligations of each license as the Commission attaches importance to reporting and has therefore mandated electricity operators to put into motion mechanisms that will ensure full compliance.
In a related development, the Commission is calling on electricity self-suppliers operating at various thresholds to come into compliance with the Electricity Law; and this will allow the Commission to populate the database of operators as described in Section 5.1 (1) of the 2015 ELL to facilitate the registration and licensing of electricity operators.