Promoting Private Investment in Rural Electrification : The Case of Chile
Reform of the energy sector and reform of subsidies ideally go hand in hand. Structural, ownership, and regulatory reforms aimed at making services more efficient should lead to a rethinking of both the delivery mechanism and the level of subsidy....
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| Format: | Viewpoint |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2000/07/729350/promoting-private-investment-rural-electrification-case-chile http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11425 |
| Summary: | Reform of the energy sector and reform
of subsidies ideally go hand in hand. Structural, ownership,
and regulatory reforms aimed at making services more
efficient should lead to a rethinking of both the delivery
mechanism and the level of subsidy. Chile, one of the
earliest and most thorough energy reformers, has also been
one of the more innovative in restructuring its subsidy
schemes. It has seen electrification as a key measure in
alleviating poverty in rural areas-in 1992 about 47 percent
of its rural population had no access to electricity. Its
rural electrification program includes subsidies designed to
be consistent with the broad principles of energy
reform-decentralization of decisions to the regional and
community level, competition (between technologies as well
as suppliers), and a requirement that all partners in the
process-users and private companies as well as the
state-contribute to the financing of expansion projects. The
short-term result: an increase in rural electrification of
about 50 percent in the first five years of the program. |
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