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Utility reforms in developing countries: Learning from the experiences of Delhi

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  • Srivastava, Govind
  • Kathuria, Vinish

Abstract

The power sector reforms of Delhi, the capital of India presents an interesting case in the evolution of power sector reforms in India, targeting improvements in distribution side. The Delhi reform design has benefitted from the experience of an earlier partially successful experiment in the state of Orissa. The reform format has tried many new ideas such as defining Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses, auctioning of Discoms based on highest AT&C loss reduction, direct privatization and transitory support provision. In the span of a little more than a decade from the year 2002, there has been tangible progress on many fronts. Other utilities planning the reforms may benefit from this experience. However, newer challenges such as an unexpected increase in power purchase costs with limited scope of passing these costs to the end customers seem to have emerged in the recent years. The paper ends with a cautionary note that for any utility not having access to lower cost power, the distribution reforms will reach a dead-end unless a competitive market is created at the generation side too.

Suggested Citation

  • Srivastava, Govind & Kathuria, Vinish, 2014. "Utility reforms in developing countries: Learning from the experiences of Delhi," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:29:y:2014:i:c:p:1-16
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2013.12.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Bhatt, Brijesh & Singh, Anoop, 2021. "Power sector reforms and technology adoption in the Indian electricity distribution sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PA).
    2. Gunther Bensch, 2019. "The effects of market-based reforms on access to electricity in developing countries: a systematic review," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 165-188, April.
    3. Vinish Kathuria, 2018. "Does Environmental Governance Matter for Foreign Direct Investment? Testing the Pollution Haven Hypothesis for Indian States," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 35(1), pages 81-107, March.
    4. Srivastava, Govind & Kathuria, Vinish, 2020. "Impact of corporate governance norms on the performance of Indian utilities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    5. Kathuria, Vinish, 2021. "Impact of institutional reforms on the performance of distribution utilities in India – A dynamic panel data analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    6. Nihit Goyal, 2021. "Limited Demand or Unreliable Supply? A Bibliometric Review and Computational Text Analysis of Research on Energy Policy in India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-23, December.

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