Residential Electricity Subsidies in Pakistan : Targeting, Welfare Impacts, and Options for Reform

This paper examines the economic and social implications of the current system of residential electricity subsidies in Pakistan, and assesses the potential to improve the system's outcomes through alternative targeting and program design. The...

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Main Authors:	Walker, Thomas, Canpolat, Ezgi, Khan, Farah Khalid, Kryeziu, Adea
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:	electric utilities subsidies safety nets welfare targeting subsidy reform
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/918461481635891184/Residential-electricity-subsidies-in-Pakistan-targeting-welfare-impacts-and-options-for-reform http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25811

id	okr-10986-25811
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-258112021-06-08T14:42:46Z Residential Electricity Subsidies in Pakistan : Targeting, Welfare Impacts, and Options for Reform Walker, Thomas Canpolat, Ezgi Khan, Farah Khalid Kryeziu, Adea electric utilities subsidies safety nets welfare targeting subsidy reform This paper examines the economic and social implications of the current system of residential electricity subsidies in Pakistan, and assesses the potential to improve the system's outcomes through alternative targeting and program design. The analysis is multi-disciplinary in nature, drawing on national household survey data, electric company data on household electricity consumption, a welfare database, and a specially commissioned qualitative assessment of household and service provider attitudes and experiences. Affordability is only one of many concerns among electricity users, with reliability of supply and customer service being arguably more important. The analysis finds that targeting could be improved considerably by allocating subsidies according to proxy-means test scores using an existing national proxy-means test database. Providing a flat credit rather than a price subsidy could also alleviate certain governance concerns. The paper concludes with some guidance on how to carry out these reforms based on international experience. 2017-01-05T15:57:43Z 2017-01-05T15:57:43Z 2016-12 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/918461481635891184/Residential-electricity-subsidies-in-Pakistan-targeting-welfare-impacts-and-options-for-reform http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25811 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7912 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper South Asia Pakistan
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	electric utilities subsidies safety nets welfare targeting subsidy reform
spellingShingle	electric utilities subsidies safety nets welfare targeting subsidy reform Walker, Thomas Canpolat, Ezgi Khan, Farah Khalid Kryeziu, Adea Residential Electricity Subsidies in Pakistan : Targeting, Welfare Impacts, and Options for Reform
geographic_facet	South Asia Pakistan
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7912
description	This paper examines the economic and social implications of the current system of residential electricity subsidies in Pakistan, and assesses the potential to improve the system's outcomes through alternative targeting and program design. The analysis is multi-disciplinary in nature, drawing on national household survey data, electric company data on household electricity consumption, a welfare database, and a specially commissioned qualitative assessment of household and service provider attitudes and experiences. Affordability is only one of many concerns among electricity users, with reliability of supply and customer service being arguably more important. The analysis finds that targeting could be improved considerably by allocating subsidies according to proxy-means test scores using an existing national proxy-means test database. Providing a flat credit rather than a price subsidy could also alleviate certain governance concerns. The paper concludes with some guidance on how to carry out these reforms based on international experience.
format	Working Paper
author	Walker, Thomas Canpolat, Ezgi Khan, Farah Khalid Kryeziu, Adea
author_facet	Walker, Thomas Canpolat, Ezgi Khan, Farah Khalid Kryeziu, Adea
author_sort	Walker, Thomas
title	Residential Electricity Subsidies in Pakistan : Targeting, Welfare Impacts, and Options for Reform
title_short	Residential Electricity Subsidies in Pakistan : Targeting, Welfare Impacts, and Options for Reform
title_full	Residential Electricity Subsidies in Pakistan : Targeting, Welfare Impacts, and Options for Reform
title_fullStr	Residential Electricity Subsidies in Pakistan : Targeting, Welfare Impacts, and Options for Reform
title_full_unstemmed	Residential Electricity Subsidies in Pakistan : Targeting, Welfare Impacts, and Options for Reform
title_sort	residential electricity subsidies in pakistan : targeting, welfare impacts, and options for reform
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2017
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/918461481635891184/Residential-electricity-subsidies-in-Pakistan-targeting-welfare-impacts-and-options-for-reform http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25811
_version_	1764460209579753472

Residential Electricity Subsidies in Pakistan : Targeting, Welfare Impacts, and Options for Reform

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