With residents still waiting for the 60-megawatt gas turbine installed by the Prosperity Government to be powered and lit up, the Bayelsa State Government has thrown open its electricity market to both foreign and Nigerian investors, promising a competitive, transparent, and predictable regulatory environment.

The Director General of the Bayelsa Electricity Regulations Agency (BYERA), Dr RosaLyn Dressman, made the call yesterday during a stakeholder vetting and market entry session on BYERA licensing held in Yenagoa.

Addressing potential investors across the electricity value chain, Dressman stressed that Bayelsa’s power market is not reserved for any single group. “The Bayelsa State market is open for both foreign and Nigerian investors.

It does not matter if you are a Nigerian investor or a foreign investor, the market is open,” she stated. Dressman described Bayelsa’s energy landscape as unique, with room for multiple players.

“We have a very unique market in Bayelsa State and we can provide space for everybody. It is a competitive market and we are also very competitive. So we invite all investors to come to us in Bayelsa State and invest in the energy market.”

She emphasised that BYERA’s priority is transparency, which she called the foundation of investor confidence. “What is more important to us at BYERA is to stay transparent. If we are transparent, we are predictable, and investors love predictable markets.”

Earlier, BYERA Chairman Austin Adigio, told stakeholders that the agency is drafting comprehensive regulations to guide electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and related services in the state. The regulations will be gazetted after input from all stakeholders.

Adigio said: “We are coming up with regulations that will guide the whole value chain in the electricity market. “In doing so, we have to take cognizance of the concerns of all the stakeholders, because these regulations will eventually become gazetted and would have been cast in stone. So it is only proper that we call all stakeholders in the value chain.”