Electrification and Regulation: Principles and a Model Law

The paper presents one of the first systemmatic attempts at defining workable regulatory systems that will “help” rather than “hinder” electrification with emphasis on offgrid electrification. It does this by first presenting four general principles that would need to be satisfied by such a regulatory system:
Principle 1—Adopt light-handed and simplified regulation.
Principle 2—Allow (or require) the regulator to “contract out” or delegate, either temporarily or permanently,
regulatory tasks to other government or nongovernment entities.
Principle 3—Allow the regulator to vary the nature of its regulation depending on the entity that is being regulated.
Principle 4—Establish quality-of-service standards that are realistic, affordable, monitorable, and enforceable.
To make these principles more concrete, each one is illustrated with detailed descriptions of real world regulatory practices from five developing countries that support or do not support the principles. Since it would be impossible to implement the recommended principles and practices in the absence of a strong legal foundation, the report concludes with the proposed elements of a model law based on the four principles.

For more information about this sector, please visit Public–Private Partnerships in Energy and Power.