Founded on 28 November 2016 by CRE, in close collaboration with the regulators in Ivory Coast (ANARE-CI), Belgium (CREG) and Quebec (Régie de l’énergie), RegulaE.Fr is a network of 22 French-speaking energy regulators from Africa, Europe and Canada. It works to strengthen collaboration between its members, promote the sharing of information, and encourage training initiatives and technical cooperation. The use of French as a first language serves to facilitate dialogue and mutual understanding.
The objectives and structure of the Network were enshrined in the charter of November 2016, updated in October 2017. The Network has three bodies.
- The Coordination Committee sets the principal orientations of the Network and holds regular meetings between its members. It is comprised of a chairman and two vice-chairmen, who are elected for non-consecutive one-year terms in office. Hippolyte Ebagnitchie (ANARE-CI) took over from Philippe de Ladoucette as chairman of the Network in October 2017. Marie-Pierre Fauconnier (CREG) is the Chief Vice-President and Catherine Edwige (member of the CRE’s collegial board) is the Deputy Vice-President in 2018.
- The Secretariat, assured by CRE, works to support the Coordination Committee. Its role is to lead the Network and facilitate communication between its members.
- The Communication Committee, set up in October 2017, produces RegulaE.Fr’s newsletter, maintains the Network’s website, and handles internal communications. A graphic charter and logo have been created, to give the Network more visibility.
In 2017, there were two major events in the RegulaE.Fr calendar:
- On 11 July, at the invitation of CREG, a first workshop was organised in Brussels on the themes of the independent of regulators, and best practices for governance;
- On 11 and 12 October, at the invitation of ANARE-CI, RegulaE.Fr held its Annual General Meeting in Abidjan. A second workshop took place at the meeting. It focused on the construction of the regional energy markets and hosted representatives from the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority, the African Development Bank, and the EU delegation to Ivory Coast.
In response to strong demand for training by the African regulators, partnerships were agreed in 2016 with three international training schemes: Florence School of Regulation, the BADGE programme developed by the French Higher Schools of Engineering, and the IFDD, the Francophone Institute for Sustainable Development, a subsidiary body of the International Organisation of La Francophonie.