Learning from Power Sector Reform : The Case of the Arab Republic of Egypt

The challenge of power sector reform in the Arab Republic of Egypt has long been dominated by extremely high subsidies, with prices set well below the costs of supply. These subsidies have taken a variety of forms: explicit subsidies in the governm...

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Main Authors: Rana, Anshul, Khanna, Ashish
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/344841582641079201/Learning-from-Power-Sector-Reform-The-Case-of-the-Arab-Republic-of-Egypt
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33394
id okr-10986-33394
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-333942022-09-20T00:12:37Z Learning from Power Sector Reform : The Case of the Arab Republic of Egypt Rana, Anshul Khanna, Ashish POWER SECTOR REFORM ELECTRIC UTILITIES POWER GENERATION ACCESS TO ENERGY STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES REGULATION ELECTRICITY PRICING SUBSIDIES REFORM The challenge of power sector reform in the Arab Republic of Egypt has long been dominated by extremely high subsidies, with prices set well below the costs of supply. These subsidies have taken a variety of forms: explicit subsidies in the government budget, implicit subsidies in the underpricing of fuel supply (particularly natural gas) to the power sector, accumulation of arrears from the sector, poorly-maintained physical capital, and cross-subsidies across customer classes. Egypt's social contract was linked to expanding energy access with good quality supply based on public financing and huge subsidies. Egypt has been able to achieve universal access with more or less reliable power over the entire period, except when chronic underinvestment in the sector caused blackouts in 2011–14 at time of severe political uncertainty. The social compact came under pressure in 2014 when energy subsidies reached 6.8 percent of gross domestic product. Since then, the reform process has been revived based on new electricity, gas, and renewable energy laws; price and subsidy adjustments; structural reforms with a deliberately long time frame; and greater emphasis on the role of the private sector. 2020-02-26T16:13:12Z 2020-02-26T16:13:12Z 2020-02 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/344841582641079201/Learning-from-Power-Sector-Reform-The-Case-of-the-Arab-Republic-of-Egypt http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33394 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9162 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 Middle East and North Africa Egypt, Arab Republic of
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic POWER SECTOR REFORM
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
POWER GENERATION
ACCESS TO ENERGY
STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES
REGULATION
ELECTRICITY PRICING
SUBSIDIES REFORM
spellingShingle POWER SECTOR REFORM
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
POWER GENERATION
ACCESS TO ENERGY
STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES
REGULATION
ELECTRICITY PRICING
SUBSIDIES REFORM
Rana, Anshul
Khanna, Ashish
Learning from Power Sector Reform : The Case of the Arab Republic of Egypt
geographic_facet Middle East and North Africa
Egypt, Arab Republic of
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9162
description The challenge of power sector reform in the Arab Republic of Egypt has long been dominated by extremely high subsidies, with prices set well below the costs of supply. These subsidies have taken a variety of forms: explicit subsidies in the government budget, implicit subsidies in the underpricing of fuel supply (particularly natural gas) to the power sector, accumulation of arrears from the sector, poorly-maintained physical capital, and cross-subsidies across customer classes. Egypt's social contract was linked to expanding energy access with good quality supply based on public financing and huge subsidies. Egypt has been able to achieve universal access with more or less reliable power over the entire period, except when chronic underinvestment in the sector caused blackouts in 2011–14 at time of severe political uncertainty. The social compact came under pressure in 2014 when energy subsidies reached 6.8 percent of gross domestic product. Since then, the reform process has been revived based on new electricity, gas, and renewable energy laws; price and subsidy adjustments; structural reforms with a deliberately long time frame; and greater emphasis on the role of the private sector.
format Working Paper
author Rana, Anshul
Khanna, Ashish
author_facet Rana, Anshul
Khanna, Ashish
author_sort Rana, Anshul
title Learning from Power Sector Reform : The Case of the Arab Republic of Egypt
title_short Learning from Power Sector Reform : The Case of the Arab Republic of Egypt
title_full Learning from Power Sector Reform : The Case of the Arab Republic of Egypt
title_fullStr Learning from Power Sector Reform : The Case of the Arab Republic of Egypt
title_full_unstemmed Learning from Power Sector Reform : The Case of the Arab Republic of Egypt
title_sort learning from power sector reform : the case of the arab republic of egypt
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/344841582641079201/Learning-from-Power-Sector-Reform-The-Case-of-the-Arab-Republic-of-Egypt
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33394
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