Private Sector Participation In The Power Sector In Europe And Central Asia

This study analyzes the impacts of the financial crisis on power sectors in five countries in the region: Armenia, Kyrgyz Republic, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. Before the financial crisis, these countries faced expected power shortages as a result of large investment gaps. With the financial crisis, GDP dropped, leading to a drop in demand for electricity. The drop in demand created a window of opportunity for meeting investment needs, but the crisis has limited the sources of financing available to the sector. In the post-crisis period, the study concludes that policymakers need to prioritize public spending and create a legal and regulatory environment more conducive to private investment.

This study examines the fiscal, efficiency, social, and environmental impact of power sector reforms in seven countries in Europe and central Asia (covering Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Poland). It includes a CD-ROM containing a pdf of this publication in Russian, plus pdfs of English and Russian versions of the following related titles: i) Utility pricing and the poor: lessons from Armenia; ii) Coping with the cold: heating strategies for eastern Europe and central Asia's urban poor; and iii) Revisiting reform in the energy sector: lessons from Georgia.

The debate on how to conduct pro-poor reforms of utilities frequently condemns tariff-based subsidies as socially regressive. But the empirical insights on household behavior and electricity consumption patterns in this book reveal that, in ECA, where access to utilities is almost universal, the erosion of tariff based subsidies has disproportionately affected the poor, while direct transfers through social benefit systems have often been inadequately targeted. The book suggests alternative strategies for achieving cost-recovery in the electricity sector in a socially and politically acceptable manner, providing lessons that are equally relevant for other utilities and regions.

This study examines the fiscal, efficiency, social, and environmental impact of power sector reforms in seven countries in Europe and central Asia (covering Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Poland). It includes a CD-ROM containing a pdf of this publication in Russian, plus pdfs of English and Russian versions of the following related titles: i) Utility pricing and the poor: lessons from Armenia; ii) Coping with the cold: heating strategies for eastern Europe and central Asia's urban poor; and iii) Revisiting reform in the energy sector: lessons from Georgia.

During the 1990s, a new paradigm for power sector reform was put forward emphasizing the restructuring of utilities, the creation of regulators, the participation of the private sector, and the establishment of competitive power markets. Twenty-five years later, only a handful of developing countries have fully implemented these Washington Consensus policies. Across the developing world, reforms were adopted rather selectively, resulting in a hybrid model, in which elements of market orientation coexist with continued state dominance of the sector. This book aims to revisit and refresh thinking on power sector reform approaches for developing countries. The approach relies heavily on evidence from the past, drawing both on broad global trends and deep case material from 15 developing countries. It is also forward looking, considering the implications of new social and environmental policy goals, as well as the emerging technological disruptions. A nuanced picture emerges. Although regulation has been widely adopted, practice often falls well short of theory, and cost recovery remains an elusive goal. The private sector has financed a substantial expansion of generation capacity; yet, its contribution to power distribution has been much more limited, with efficiency levels that can sometimes be matched by well-governed public utilities. Restructuring and liberalization have been beneficial in a handful of larger middle-income nations but have proved too complex for most countries to implement. Based on these findings, the report points to three major policy implications. First, reform efforts need to be shaped by the political and economic context of the country. The 1990s reform model was most successful in countries that had reached certain minimum conditions of power sector development and offered a supportive political environment. Second, countries found alternative institutional pathways to achieving good power sector outcomes, making a case for greater pluralism. Among the top performers, some pursued the full set of market-oriented reforms, while others retained a more important role for the state. Third, reform efforts should be driven and tailored to desired policy outcomes and less preoccupied with following a predetermined process, particularly since the twenty-first-century century agenda has added decarbonization and universal access to power sector outcomes. The Washington Consensus reforms, while supportive of the twenty-first-century century agenda, will not be able to deliver on them alone and will require complementary policy measures

This report examines three economies in different parts of Asia---Georgia, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam---that introduced power sector reforms in recent years to create a commercially viable and efficient power sector. Each took a different route in moving away from a monopoly state-owned utility toward the common goal of a competitive, market-based, and better-regulated power sector. This report documents the broad spectrum of their power sector reform efforts, experiences, and relative successes as well as shortfalls, then uses international standard indicators to assess their economic, social, and environmental outcomes. Other economies should be able to draw valuable lessons and insights from this report for their own power-sector planning and policy and strategy formulation.