Power's Promise: Electricity Reforms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Volume 1

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Julian A. Lampietti
World Bank Publications, 2004 - 76 pages
'Power s Promise' is part of the World Bank Working Paper series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank s ongoing research and to stimulate public discussion. This study analyzes the fiscal, efficiency, social, and environmen

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Page 38 - Income transfers tend to be well targeted in countries with less than 10 percent of the population below the poverty line...
Page 35 - GAS, 1 992-2002 5 4.5 4 l 3.5 0 2.52 1 1.5 1 0.5— i 1 — — i — i — — 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 Gas tariff -*— Electricity tariff Note: The applied conversion factor was 277.8 kWh per Giga-Joule (Gj) of natural gas (International Energy Agency). Average tariffs were calculated for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Poland. Note that this is a simple average. The number of observations varies by year depending on data availability. Source: Authors' calculations...
Page 29 - In Georgia supply improved in Tbilisi after privatization of the distribution company. The company was not always able to provide 24-hour supply for reasons beyond its control, such as interconnectedness of the power grid with the rest of the country. Power supply in other areas, where distribution is still publicly owned, is worse. (Project Appraisal Document for an Electricity Market Support Project in Georgia, World Bank, April, 2001. p. 5...
Page 32 - In real terms the electricity price fell slightly in Kazakhstan, so households did not experience a welfare loss. Consumption is Low Studying consumption using household survey data is confounded by the presence of arrears (nonpayments), which make it impossible to determine whether reported electricity expenditures represent current or historical consumption. But it is possible to examine a sample of household electricity consumption records from distribution companies in Armenia and Georgia.
Page 75 - National burden of disease in India from indoor air pollution." School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Contribution to special series of Inaugural Articles by members of National Academy of Sciences. 2000. Srinivasan, PV and BS Reddy. 1996. "Electricity Demand Management Through Pricing: Scope and Options." International Journal of Global Energy Issues 8(5/6). United Nations Environment Program. 2002. "Caucasus Environment Outlook.
Page 29 - In nominal dollar terms they nearly doubled in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Hungary between the mid-1990s and 2002; Poland and Hungary currently have the highest tariffs. In Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova the tariffs first increased or remained stable and then fell in the late 1990s due to the depreciation of local currency and the 1999 devaluation triggered by the financial crisis in Russia. In real terms the tariff increase during this period was the highest in Azerbaijan and Georgia, where the...
Page 32 - Budget shares calculated from household survey data. budget share of electricity in household income varies depending on income and the geographic location of a household. Typically network energy budget shares are inversely related to income, with the poor urban households spending a highest share of their total income compared to all other groups of households (Hope and Singh 1995). This is also the case in these countries in ECA. We present the consumer surplus calculation24 in a range of demand...
Page 32 - At a price elasticity of-1, the household is able to reduce electricity consumption in response to the price increase, so reducing the magnitude of the welfare loss. Households in Armenia and Georgia experienced the largest welfare loss, expressed as a percentage of total household budget, because of the high magnitude of the price increase and the high shares of electricity expenditures in the total budget (Table 4.4).
Page 36 - In some periods cumulative arrears31 of the bottom quintile exceed those of the top quintile,32 but in others there is no statistical difference between the two groups (Figure 4.4). However, the cumulative arrears of the bottom quintile are higher than those of the top when arrears are measured relative to electricity consumption. The top quintile consumes more than the bottom quintile in 6 of 12 quarters (all quarters of 2002), and this difference is statistically...
Page 34 - Given the large price increases and the inelastic demand, it is surprising that expenditures went up only 1.5 percentage points on average. The impact may have been mitigated by improvements in service quality or substitutions of other energy sources. While there are no perfect substitutes for electric lighting, refrigeration, and television, given a choice of substitutes for electricity in heating and cooking, households are likely to choose natural gas because it is clean, convenient, and the low...

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