Power Politics: Equity and Environment in Electricity Reform

During the 1990s, the conventional wisdom about the electricity sector —public ownership and integrated utilities —was challenged by a new model of private ownership and unbundled utilities. Debates about the viability, applicability, and feasibility of market-led electricity reforms continue today. Nonetheless, at the turn of the new century, countries around the world are taking tentative steps toward this new approach.

These shifts in the electricity sector have not occurred in isolation. The new model is part of a broader thrust toward the promotion of markets, a growing role for private capital, and global economic integration. These themes place electricity sector reforms squarely within larger processes of economic globalization and the debates about its merits and costs.

In Power Politics, Navroz K. Dubash and contributors from around the world show how electricity reform is, at root, an issue of sustainable development. Electricity reform represents an opportunity to focus attention on the 1.7 billion of the world’s poor without access to electricity. It could also be an opportunity to align investor incentives along a trajectory toward a clean energy future, one that reduces emissions of greenhouse gases while promoting development and supporting livelihoods. The concern is not solely one of a missed opportunity. In appropriately done, electricity reform could hinder progress toward a more socially and environmentally sustainable energy future.

Drawing on six country studies-Argentina, Bulgaria, Ghana, India, Indonesia, and South Africa-the contributors to this volume examine whether and how the process of electricity reform can support rather than hinder sustainable development. Instead of sustainable development, they find that financial concerns and donor conditions have driven electricity reform. Managed by closed political processes and dominated by technocrats and donor consultants, social factors play a limited role, and environmental considerations play almost no role in a re-envisioned electricity sector. Drawing on a detailed analysis of the political economy of electricity reform in the six country studies, the study concludes with recommendations toward a more equitable and sustainable electricity future.

Working Case Studies: Electricity Sector Reform in Developing Countries

These papers are the working case studies conducted by WRI partners, and form the background material for the final report. These cases were presented at a WRI workshop in October 2000 and were revised in 2001. They may be cited as papers presented at a World Resources Institute workshop on “Electricity Sector Reform in Developing and Transition Countries,” October 24-26, 2000, Washington D.C.

• Argentina (PDF, 44 pages, 137 Kb): Daniel Bouille, Fundacion Bariloche
• Bulgaria (PDF, 50 pages, 193 Kb): Dimitar Doukov, Centre for Energy Efficiency–EnEffect
• Ghana (PDF, 47 pages, 136 Kb): Ishmael Edjekumhene, Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment
• India (PDF, 51 pages, 168 Kb): Sudhir Chella, Rajan Tellus Institute
• Indonesia (PDF, 17 pages, 403 Kb): Agus P. Sari, Pelangi
• South Africa (PDF, 17 pages, 403 Kb): Alix Clark, Energy and Development Research Centre