By Bill W. Cooper
The Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC) yesterday, conducted a one-day media engagement/ training for several journalists aimed at enhancing their knowledge about the Commission’s working since its establishment.
The day-long media training, which was held at the Commission’s headquarters in Congo Town, brought face-to-face 25 Liberian journalists across both the electronic and print media as well as online platform including the Commission’s board chairman and Managing Director among others.
The interactive media engagement according to the Commission is intended to create awareness and inform the grater population through the Liberian media about the entity’s operating framework as well as provide information on the current state of the sector.
The LERC is an autonomous regulator of the Electricity Supply Industry (ESI), created under the 2015 Electricity Law of Liberia (ELL) with the sole purpose to oversee the transformation and development of the country’s electricity sector to attract private sector investments.
The Commission also seeks to improve availability and adequacy as well as the peace of access to electricity in the liberalized sector, with clearly defined mandate es in relation to licensing operators, approving tariffs, establishing and monitoring compliance with technical codes and commercial operations of the licensees as well as resolving service-related disputes.
As part of its responsibility, the Commission is to also maintain a conducive electricity regulatory environment as well as to accelerate universal access to affordable, reliable and safe electricity services for consumers in a competitive market, ensuring adequate supply of electricity for sustained economic growth and enhanced quality of life.
However, addressing participants at the training, the chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the LERC, Dr. Lawrence D. Sakajipo pointed out that to lucidly delineate its mandate as prescribed in the 2015 ELL, the LERC has now developed and rolled out several regulatory instruments, noting, “the commission is also in the process of developing addition regulatory instruments for the electricity sector.”
“With the organizing of this engagement with all of you journalists, we look forward to working with the media community in assisting us in educating the public on the work and prospects of the Commission and its regulatory instruments,” he admonished.
Dr. Sakajipo further used the occasion to thank the participants for gracing/honoring the Commission of being part of the training as well as the Liberian leader and his government including other International partners for the continuous rendering of the LERC to enable its full operation.
Earlier, the vice-president of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), Daniel Nyankonah lauded the LERC for organizing of the engagement, something he said will adequately help and enable journalists to understand and report the facts about the Commission.
He then encouraged journalists that attended the meeting to use the knowledge acquired in discharge of their duties, while at the same time pledged the PUL’s fullest support towards the LERC in its operations.
Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the participants, Journalist Franck Sainwola of the Public Trust Agenda Newspaper thanked the LERC and team for the training and pledged the participants’ support in ensuring the Commission’s work is buttressed by their various reportage in a professional manner.