Power's Promise : Electricity Reforms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
This study analyzes the fiscal, efficiency, social, and environmental impact of power sector reforms in seven countries in the ECA region. It finds sector deficits have been falling over the last decade and that the savings from lower sector defici...
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| Format: | Publication |
| Language: | English en_US |
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Washington, DC: World Bank
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/06/5036348/powers-promise-electricity-reforms-eastern-europe-central-asia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14936 |
| Summary: | This study analyzes the fiscal,
efficiency, social, and environmental impact of power sector
reforms in seven countries in the ECA region. It finds
sector deficits have been falling over the last decade and
that the savings from lower sector deficits did not
translate into higher social spending. More emphasis must be
placed on monitoring deficits and tailoring policy reform to
country specific circumstances. The impact of reform on
utility efficiency, as measured by the cost of generation,
system loss collections, and operational efficiency, is
ambiguous. While overall revenue per kilowatt hour increased
in almost all countries, problems continue with losses,
collection rates, and staffing. In terms of social impacts,
electricity spending as a share of income increased,
especially for the poor, while consumption stayed the same.
In terms of environmental impacts, reforms did slightly
improve energy efficiency in power plants though this has
little direct impact on human health because the electricity
sector's share of the total health damage from air
pollution is negligible. Several lessons emerge from the
analysis. Undertaking simple ex ante simulations of reform
impacts will allow better identification of potential reform
benefits and costs. Placing more emphasis on outcome-based
indicators of service quality would help ensure that future
operations produce the intended end-user benefits. In many
cases, tariff increases can and should be explicitly timed
to coincide with service quality improvements. Yet, this may
not be always possible. Where it is not, the adverse impact
of tariff increases, especially for low-income consumers,
should be mitigated by improving access to and efficiency in
the use of clean alternatives. |
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