Competition Authority and Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority Sign MOU to Enhance Competition Regulation in the Energy Sector

The Competition Authority (CA) and the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to formalise and enhance their cooperation on regulatory matters within the energy sector. The CEO of BERA, Ms. Rose Seretse, and the CEO of the CA, Ms. Tebelelo Pule, signed the MoU at the CA offices in Gaborone this morning.

In her remarks, Ms. Pule said the CA will need technical expertise from BERA whenever it is seized with mergers as well as competition cases in the energy sector. “The CA will need knowledge, insights, qualitative and quantitative data, trends and even price structures in order to make informed determinations in the often technically opaque energy sector,” she said.

Pule further said the MoU will help to facilitate issues of shared or concurrent mandates between the two organisations to obviate the need for forum shopping and duplicating regulatory efforts; and it will also meet the needs of customers through expeditious referrals. 

For her part, Ms. Seretse said the MoU will assist both authorities in executing their mandates and achieving their strategic goals as they both have an obligation to ensure that services in the energy sector are provided in a competitive and non-discriminatory basis.

“This MoU will ensure that consumers of energy services are protected and that all competition barriers in the energy sector are removed. These will be achieved by sharing of information, joint investigations, consultations, research, referrals and capacitation of employees for both authorities,” she said.

Seretse further said BERA ensures tariffs in the energy sector are fixed on the basis of a tariff methodology set up in a transparent manner taking into account government policy and issues licenses through a competitive process. “This therefore protects the interests of customers and consumers, and it is therefore imperative that we enter into this MoU with the Competition Authority so that we may assist each other in stimulating competition in the energy sector,” said Seretse. 

The MoU is expected to facilitate information sharing between the two organisations, joint investigations and research as well as joint training exercises.

The Competition Authority is constituted in terms of the Competition Act of 2009 and is responsible for the prevention and redress for anti-competitive practices in the economy, and the removal of constraints on the free play of competition in the market. In the near future, the Authority is set to widen its mandate to include enforcement of the Consumer Protection Act, and it will transform into the Competition and Consumer Authority.

BERA was established by the Botswana Energy Regulatory Act of 2016. The Act mandates BERA with oversight over the electricity, petroleum products, coal, natural gas, bio-energy, solar energy, renewable energy resources and other energy sectors. It is also responsible for setting and maintaining service standards, ensuring sustainable and secure supplies in the energy sector, as well as protecting the environment.