Conference Agenda

There is a growing recognition that power delivered unreliably cannot jumpstart economic growth and structural transformation, and that the economic and environmental costs of technical and non-technical losses for utilities are potentially high. Nevertheless, utilities around the world struggle to improve service quality, particularly in low-income settings. This session will bring together a panel of energy economists, regulators, utility managers, and funders to discuss why service quality improvements have proven so intractable and what novel ideas may help push forward an agenda on reliability. By bringing insights from policymakers, funders, and utility managers, the session will push the audience to consider the gap between theoretical policy design and the practical constraints facing utilities in the developing world.