Дисертації з теми "Power sector reform"

Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-276).
For many countries in Africa, power sectors in are characterised by insufficient generation capacity. Due to poor financial and operational performances, many state-owned utilities have had inadequate financial reserves to invest in additional generation capacity. Governments, too, have experienced difficulty in financing generation expansions as a result of the reduction in loans from traditional financiers of infrastructure. Reforms to address poor performances in the 1990s, in part, focused on introducing private sector participation to the power sector at the generation level through independent power projects. It was anticipated that independent power producers would provide benchmarks for state-owned utilities and enable longer term power sector efficiency. Reform in this sector followed a prescribed evolution towards power markets that would allow wholesale competition amongst generators and so lead towards efficiency improvements. Despite reforms being embarked on in many African states, competitive power markets have not been established in Africa; rather, the result has been the emergence of hybrid markets where state-owned generators and IPPs operate devoid of competition; and although IPPs have emerged in a number of African power sectors, many countries still do not have sufficient generation to meet their electricity demands. This thesis investigates the development of private generation power projects in Africa by analysing data collected from both primary and secondary sources in four case studies of power sectors in Ghana, Cote d'lvoire, Morocco and Tunisia. The thesis identities and describes the factors that have contributed to a lack of investment and shortages in generation capacity in hybrid markets exploring how policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks have contributed to this situation. It also investigates how planning and procurement challenges have led to difficulties in adding sufficient generation capacity in a timely manner, exacerbating the problem of insufficient generation capacity in Africa. Finally, the dissertation provides suggestions as to how these frameworks could respond more effectively to the capacity challenges faced by hybrid electricity generation markets, and how broader power sector reforms should be guided to reflect the challenges of hybrid markets better.

Power-sharing arrangements have become the default tool of international actors to resolve a vast range of conflicts worldwide, with a particular concentration in sub-Saharan Africa. Traditionally used to end high-intensity civil wars, recently power sharing has increasingly been used to terminate an array of lower-intensity conflicts, such as election-related violence in Togo in 2006 and Kenya and Zimbabwe in 2008. The thin but emerging scholarship on post-election power sharing is largely negative, maintaining that the model is unlikely to deliver the institutional reforms necessary to resolve the underlying roots of electoral conflicts. Yet the cases of Kenya, and, to a lesser extent, Togo, appear to complicate this narrative, suggesting that post-election power sharing may be able to deliver some key but thorny institutional reforms, such as security sector reform. While the power-sharing model continues to be used worldwide and security reform is widely identified by scholars and practitioners as critical to durable peace, the existing literature has generally ignored the potential link between the two. As such, this dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: Does post-election power sharing lead to security sector reform? Which causal factors are most important in shaping security reform outcomes under post-election power sharing, and through what processes or mechanisms? The two-step integrated theoretical framework presented here forwards a structured contingency approach, positing that a combination of long- and short-term domestic and international factors will drive or stymie reform of the security sector under post-election power sharing in democratizing countries. In short, the theory argues that two main longterm factors, the nature of civil-military relations and the character of external involvement, combined with two short-term mechanisms, the design of the political agreement and the type of political strategy deployed by the parties, will be the most important factors shaping security reform outcomes under post-election power sharing. I demonstrate that post-election power sharing plays a significant role in the causal process of security reform and can deliver some institutional reforms, under certain conditions. The dissertation uses the method of structured, focused comparison to build and apply the theoretical propositions to the cases of Kenya, Togo, and Zimbabwe. Using process tracing and the logic of most-similar comparisons, I conduct two sets of cross- and within-case comparisons, utilizing elite interviews as the primary tool for data collection. I conducted over 100 interviews with key decision-makers in my case countries—including former prime ministers, cabinet ministers, top political party leaders, senior security officials, and international stakeholders.

Security sector reform has in the recent past been a critical component of peace agreements in countries emerging from armed conflicts or political crisis. In Kenya, the Commission of Inquiry into the 2007/08 Post-Election Violence (CIPEV) established that Kenya’s security sector, particularly the police, bore the greatest responsibility for the violence. Subsequently, the police emerged as one of the major institutions for reforms. ‘How have security sector reforms, particularly police reforms, in Kenya developed since 2007 and how, and to what extent, have they been shaped by Kenya’s wider political transitions and SSR process during this period?’ The research aimed at investigating how the police reform process in Kenya has developed since 2007, and how the process has been shaped by Kenya’s wider political transitions and security sector reform processes in general. Using mixed methods research, we found that despite some progress, there is wider public perception that the reforms are yet to address reform priorities at the national level and still fall short of expectations of ordinary Kenyans. We argue that political power-sharing after the 2007 post-election violence facilitated police reform, while at the same time frustrated its implementation especially in instances where reform seemed to dis-empower political elites.

The importance of modern energy services to development is well established and it extends to deploying renewable energy for electricity to address current global challenges such as lack of access to electricity, poverty, environmental degradation and climate change. No doubt, electricity from renewable energy has negative impacts, but it also has benefits over other energy sources, particularly coal, oil and gas. These benefits have included that it is generally environmentally benign, it is vast, free, and supports standalone technologies. Thus avoiding costs associated with expanding the grid network. Hence, the idea that enhanced deployment of renewable energy for electricity can drive sustainable development in countries such as Nigeria, where amidst global concerns about climate change, modern access to electricity is low and energy supply for basic tasks such as cooking and cooling are from energy sources harnessed unsustainably or is itself not sustainable. In addition, other problems in Nigeria include high poverty and unemployment rates, environment degradation, destruction of biodiversity and natural ecosystem, corruption, lack of infrastructure, and dwindling government revenue profiles. Yet, the country has significant energy resources, renewables and non-renewables through which it can presumably meet all its energy needs. Nigeria enacted the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) in March 2005 to give statutory support to its National Electric Power Policy, (NEPP) which, inter alia, sought to promote expanded access to electricity, with minimum adverse impact on the environment. Given the benefits of renewable electricity, and the policy objectives on electricity development in Nigeria, this thesis examines the ability of Nigeria's Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) 2005 to enhance the deployment of renewable energy for electricity and thereby foster sustainable development in the country.

The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply (ESI) reforms of 2002 were primarily meant to improve the quantity and quality of electricity supply through encouraging private participation, especially in generation, introducing regulation and competition and restructuring the utility. The reforms have not yielded the expected results, two decades on. This research explores the reform process and the extent to which it is structured to encourage private investments. The research approach used was primarily qualitative, based on survey research and expert interviews as well as longitudinal power sector performance data. The research found that a transitional ESI structure was adopted to deal with legacy debt issues, as well as to allow the different companies time to develop to a level where they can commercially trade. The regulator was found to be fairly independent, with a good licensing framework and tariff methodology. However, the off-taker's tariff is below cost, though IPPs have been awarded cost reflective tariff and largely view the tariff methodology as acceptable. Only small IPPs have been able to commission their projects, with the larger ones failing to reach financial closure. This has not helped some of the objectives of the reform, as the installed capacity in the country remains below demand. The reforms proposed in the Electricity Act of 2013, meant to further restructure the utility, have not been implemented as the government felt that the conditions in the country were not yet conducive for the generation, transmission and distribution companies to be spun out of ZESA Holdings. The research concluded that the reforms managed to improve the attractiveness of the industry to investment, though only small IPPs managed to commission their projects, leaving a large demand-supply gap. It is recommended that further study be done to establish conditions necessary for further restructuring of the sector as this may be the panacea for unlocking bigger projects which will have an impact on improving the quantity and quality of power supply.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-111).
Since the early 1980's, a number of countries have been undertaking power sector reform. Very often the drivers for change included the need to reduce reliance on public finances and to obtain foreign capital, either to service loans, or for investing in new capacity. Latin American countries were the forerunners in this regard, with Chile amongst the first. The other main driver was to improve the financial and technical performance of the electricity industry. The rationale for this initiative could also be found in other factors, which are discussed as the countries are dealt with individually later in this document. One important aspect thereof is clearly the 'public benefit' implications of power sector reform, which are more pressing in developing countries. Until the 1980's, the electricity industry was viewed as a natural monopoly, and the concept of economies of scale reinforced this point of view. However, with dramatic technology improvements, it became possible to generate electricity competitively in smaller power plants, and thus alternatives to monopolistic industries were increasingly feasible. Competition is now possible in generation and supply. Developers other than the state can participate in the industry either as Independent Power Producers (IPPs) or as distributors and suppliers of electricity. According to the principle of competition, the introduction of new players into the market should lower electricity prices. This study investigates if this holds true in developing countries and whether power sector reform slows down or accelerates electrification access for the poor.

Over that past three decades, power sector reform has been a key pillar of policy agendas in more than half of the countries across the world. This thesis specifically concerns the empirical investigation of the economic performance of the international electricity generation industry. Drawing on the stochastic frontier analysis techniques, the thesis considers the influence of reform as exogenous factors in shifting frontier technology as well as shaping inefficiency function directly -determinants and heteroscedasticity variables. The first essay uses an extensive panel dataset of 91 countries over the period 1980 to 2010 to measure the impact of deregulation on efficiency and total productivity growth using stochastic input distance frontier (SIDF). Three specific issues are addressed in the first essay: (1) the relationship between deregulation and technical efficiency, (2) the extent of the rank correlation of the country intercepts with deregulation via their position on the frontier, (3) the trend of total factor productivity and its components. We establish a positive impact of deregulation on efficiency and some compelling evidence suggesting that the country intercepts equally account for the influence of deregulation aside efficiency. In particular, the technical efficiency index from the first paper reveals that most OECD European countries are consistently efficient. Building on this finding, the second essay investigates the performance in term of cost efficiency for electricity generation in OECD power sector while accounting for the impact of electricity market product regulatory indicators. Empirical models are developed for the cost function as a translog form and analysed using panel data of 25 countries during the period 1980 to 2009. We show that it is necessary to model latent country-specific heterogeneity in addition to time-varying inefficiency. The estimated economies of scale are adjusted to take account of the importance of the quasi-fixed capital input in determining cost behaviour, and adjusted economies of scale are verified for the OECD generation sector. The findings suggest there is a significant impact of electricity market regulatory indicators on cost. Cost complementarity between generation and emissions found to be significant, indicating the possibility of reducing emissions without necessarily reducing electricity generation. Finally, the third essay examines the performance of electric power industry s using consistent state-level electricity generation dataset for the US contiguous states from 1998-2014. We estimate stochastic production frontier for five competing models in order to identify the determinants of technical inefficiency and marginal effects. We find evidence of positive impacts of deregulation on technical efficiency across the models estimated. Our preferred model shows that deregulated states are more efficient in electricity generation than non-deregulated states. The result of the marginal effects shows that deregulation has a positive and monotonic effect on the technical efficiency.

Smart acquisition was the change programme introduced at the end of the twentieth century charged with transforming the effectiveness of defence procurement within the United Kingdom. The initiative was rolled-out as a cornerstone of the Blair government’s strategic defence initiative from 1998 onwards and represents, today, the management philosophy, public sector organisational structures and UK industrial strategy for delivering defence equipment. This research seeks to understand the manner and extent of changes to defence procurement derived from the smart acquisition initiative, viewed as a ‘technology’ through which government exercises power. Accordingly, understanding smart acquisition develops and deepens our knowledge of the nature of government itself. I offer, initially, in chapters 1 and 2 an introduction to smart acquisition, its background and historical antecedence. I discuss the methodology employed for interrogating the phenomenon as an auto/ethnographical study of UK defence practices. Chapter 3 details the factors that drove defence reorganisation, whilst chapter 4 derives smart acquisition as rational and benign managerial change. Chapter 5 critiques this perspective by unveiling smart acquisition as a neoliberal construct through which government procures and cements assemblages of regimes of control and socialisation, legitimised through managerial narratives and governmentalist forms. A revised critical analytical model of smart acquisition embracing governmentalist notions is, consequently, provided in chapter 6. Chapter 7 introduces a specific defence procurement project team and describes its transformation strategy and emerging business model. In chapter 8 the project team is superficially revealed as a rational change agent embedding and embracing management reform. Chapter 9 critiques this, presenting the team as a constructed governmentalist regime, an expression of control, socialisation and surrender of agency. Chapter 10 concludes the research by observing that smart acquisition is a complex set of understandings and a multiplicity of forms and discourses.

La réforme du secteur de l'électricité du Nigeria a eu lieu en 2010-2013 mais a été jugée infructueuse par la plupart des parties prenantes. L'échec de la réforme est illustré par une myriade de défis économiques, institutionnels, techniques, financiers et sociopolitiques apparemment insurmontables. Cette thèse a pour objectif de proposer des solutions viables aux défis (ex post) auxquels fait face le secteur électrique du Nigéria, en empruntant aux approches de l'économie de l'énergie sur le market design et la régulation. Elle identifie les principales causes de l'échec de la dernière réforme du secteur : privatisation incomplète, intégration horizontale des opérations de transport et de réseau, infrastructure d'approvisionnement gazière sous-développée et cadre réglementaire faible et inefficace. Ainsi, elle recommande de renforcer le cadre réglementaire comme un bon point de départ pour résoudre les problèmes sectoriels (ex-post) de la réforme.Ensuite, cette thèse démontre que des enchères inversées bien conçues peuvent être un mécanisme de marché approprié à la situation du Nigéria, en précisant les variables importantes pour une implémentation réussie. Cette thèse affirme également que ces variables devraient être fondées sur un cadre institutionnel et réglementaire solide pour réussir. Elle recommande donc de concevoir des enchères inversées pour la technologie de stockage solaire photovoltaïque hors réseau /minigrid, en tant que solution potentielle pour accroître l'accès à l'électricité, attirer les investissements, et également discuté de la voie à suivre afin d’adapter la conception au cadre de marché discuter / réglementaire existant.Enfin, cette thèse comble certaines lacunes de l'état de l'art du secteur électrique nigérian en appliquant et combinant des systèmes d’informations géographiques (GIS), un outil d’optimisation de système énergétique et des connaissances du market design et de la régulation. Elle a identifié les clusters de consommateurs les plus peuplées sans accès à l'électricité, fait des projections de la demande de charge et déterminé les tailles de stockage PV et de batteries optimisées sur le plan techno-économique pour obtenir une alimentation de haute qualité d’électricité avec une certaine gestion de la demande. Également, elle a analysé les besoins en terrains / la disponibilité pour obtenir une liste restreinte de 233 clusters de 7,2 millions d'habitants, nécessitant un solaire photovoltaïque de 3 280 MW pour la vente aux enchères proposée. Enfin, cette thèse a examiné la voie à suivre pour adapter la conception proposée de la vente aux enchères de stockage d’énergie solaire photovoltaïque et de stockage au cadre de market design/réglementaire existant
The Nigeria Power sector reform was performed in the year 2010-2013 but has been adjudged unsuccessful by most stakeholders. The failure of the reform is evidenced by a myriad of seemingly insurmountable economic, institutional, technical, financial and socio-political challenges. This thesis aims to propose workable solutions to the challenges in the Nigeria Power sector (ex-post) reform from the field of market design and regulation in energy economics. It finds incomplete privatization coupled with the horizontal integration of the transmission and network operations, underdeveloped gas supply infrastructure and the ineffective/weak regulatory framework as the root causes of the reform failure. Thus, it recommends strengthening the regulatory framework as a good starting point to resolve sectoral problems (ex-post) reform.Furthermore, it argues that reverse auction has the potential to be successful in Nigeria with well-designed market variables and provides the market design variables adaptable to the Nigeria case to achieve a successful auction run. It also argues that these variables should be built on a foundation of a robust institutional and regulatory framework to be successful. It thus recommends designing reverse auctions for offgrid/minigrid solar PV plus storage technology as a potential solution to increase power access and attract investment and also discussed the pathway to adapt the design to the existing market/regulatory framework. In addition, it applied and combined Geographical Information System (GIS), energy system optimization tool and market/regulation knowledge to bridge some knowledge gap in the Nigeria Power sector. It identified the most populated consumer clusters without electricity access, made load demand projections and determined the techno-economically optimized PV plus battery storage sizes to achieve high quality power supply with some demand side management. Furthermore, it analyzed the land requirements/availability to achieve a shortlist of 233 clusters with 7.2 million people that require 3,280 MW solar PV for the proposed auction. Finally, it discussed the pathway to adapt the proposed solar PV plus storage auction design to the existing market/regulatory framework

Power sector reforms around the world have been driven by various factors ranging from economic and financial to technological reasons. The reforms in the power sector are frequently undertaken under conditionality agreements linked to broader macro economic reforms. The main objective of this thesis is to find out whether power sector reforms advance social benefits to the poor, specifically increase their affordable access and use of electricity in Zambia. The rationale behind power sector reforms in Zambia include the increase of access to electricity by the majority of the Zambian population through expansion of the national electricity network to cover areas that have production potential. The promotion of private sector participation in the electricity industry by ensuring that market rules are attractive to private investors is another objective of reforms. The reforms also aim to improve efficiency in the electricity industry. To achieve the rationale of power sector reforms, the government's focus is on macro electrification projects. These electrification projects exclude poor household electrification owing to its unprofitable nature. Furthermore, the expected economic benefits arising from the macro electrification projects could result in further marginalization of poor household electrification. In short, the proposed approach to restructure the electricity industry in Zambia does not contain specific initiatives for increasing affordable access to electricity by the poor households. This thesis draws out the point that without considerable attention to affordable access to electricity by the poor at the inception of the reforms, addressing them at a later stage could difficult. To be effective, social concerns need to be included into the reform design early and backed by strong political commitment.

The objective of the thesis is to use econometric analysis to assess the impact of power sector reforms in Africa during the period 1988-2005, using panel data analysis. The study uses fixed effects model, where all the reform variables are assumed to be strictly exogenous, but goes a step further, to endogenise the variables using 1-step Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation. To ensure the robustness of the results, the study makes use of both static and dynamic models and other econometric methods to reduce as far as practicable, the likelihood of spurious correlation. The main conclusion from the generation sector study is that, the establishment of a regulatory agency is generally associated with favourable generation outcomes. These are likely to be achieved after a minimum period of 2 years for installed plant capacity, 3 years for plant energy output, and 7 years for plant utilization. Passage of energy sector law seems likely to enhance both installed generation capacity and actual plant energy output. On the impact of private sector participation (PSP) in the generation sector, management and lease contracts, as well as greenfield projects seem likely to enhance installed capacity and actual plant output. On plant utilization, the favourable outcome is associated with concessions and greenfield projects. For the network sector, the result seems to indicate that the co-existence of energy sector law and regulatory agency can reduce transmission network loss levels. The result on the distribution system however show that though energy sector law and regulation are necessary, they are not likely to be sufficient to reduce the system loss level. Effective loss reduction in the distribution sector is likely to be achieved if management and lease contract is present as a PSP option. The long lags associated with the existence of regulation, underline the notion that institutional changes alone are unlikely to be sufficient, if the workforce is not competent and well trained. This implies that regulatory agencies in Africa are still fragile, and it will take quite sometime to build the capacity of key professional staff to operate whatever institutional and regulatory frameworks are chosen.

Bibliography: leaves 154-164 .
The objective of this thesis is to undertake a comparative review of the power sector reforms and regulation in seven eastern and southern African countries, namely Uganda, Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Swaziland and Tanzania.

Magister Legum - LLM
The monitoring and supervision of local government is usually done by central governments. However in some countries like South Africa where there three spheres of government the provincial executive is charged with the supervision of the local sphere of government. In Zimbabwe the monitoring and supervision of local government is done by the central government through the relevant Minister. This study will look at the appointment of a caretaker to act as council in terms of section 80 of the UCA. Although a similar provision exists in section 158 of the RDCA, it is section 80 that has been vigorously applied by the Minister in recent times and which has caused an outcry from urban local authorities.
South Africa

In 2007, Uganda had one of the lowest levels of access to electricity in the world. Given the influence of multilateral and bilateral agencies in Uganda; the strong international reputation and domestic influence of its President; the country’s historic achievements in public sector and economic reform; and the intimate connection between economic performance, social well-being and access to electricity, the problems with Uganda’s electricity sector have proven deeply frustrating and, indeed, puzzling. Following increased scholarly attention to the relationship between political change, policymaking, and public sector reform in sub-Saharan Africa and the developing world generally, this thesis examines the multilevel politics of Uganda’s electricity sector reform process. This study contends that explanations for Uganda’s electricity sector reform problems generally, and hydroelectric dam construction efforts specifically, must move beyond technical and financial factors. Problems in this sector have also been the result of a model of reform (promoted by the World Bank) that failed adequately to account for the character of political change. Indeed, the model of reform that was promoted and implemented was risky and it was deeply antagonistic to domestic and international civil society organizations. In addition, it was presented as a linear, technical, apolitical exercise. Finally the model was inconsistent with key principles the Bank itself, and public policy literature generally, suggest are needed for success. Based on this analysis, the thesis contends that policymaking and reform must be understood as deeply political processes, which not only define access to services, but also participation in, and exclusion from, national debates. Future approaches to reform and policymaking must anticipate the complex, multilevel, non-linear character of ‘second-generation’ policy issues like electricity, and the political and institutional capacity needed to increase the potential for success. At the heart of this approach is a need to carefully consider how the character of state-society relations in the country – “governance” – will influence reform processes and outcomes.

Renewable energy technologies have been advocated in Fiji's electricity sector on the basis that they improve energy security and serve as a risk-mitigation measure against oil price increases. This follows a decade of significant oil price volatility and historically high oil prices, which negatively affected the oil-dependent electricity sector in Fiji and other Small Island Developing States in the Pacific. This dissertation examines the extent to which renewable technologies can improve energy security in the electricity grid and in rural off-grid areas of Fiji. The main contributions from the research are a novel empirical analysis of generation cost-risk in the electricity grid; an analysis of institutions governing power sector investment; a survey, interview and focus group-based analysis of rural electricity supply; and an evaluation of implications of the research findings for policy. In Fiji's electricity grid, threats to energy security are primarily the result of increased generation costs and their impact on electricity prices. Risk is therefore financial. In this thesis, it is assessed using portfolio theory. Detailed data on costs and variability is fed into a stochastic portfolio model, which is developed to analyse the impact of renewable technologies on generation costs and financial risk in Fiji's electricity grid looking forward to 2025. The analysis demonstrates that renewable technologies can be expected to significantly improve the security of electricity supply through diversification, as the cost streams of renewable technologies are neither correlated with those of oil-based power generation, nor strongly correlated with each other. Importantly, investment in hydro, geothermal, biomass and bagasse-based power generation is found to lower expected average generation costs in the electricity grid. The implementation of energy efficiency measures also lowers generation costs and risk in the electricity grid. Renewable technology investment that is forecast in Fiji's electricity grid is found to fall short of what would be desirable based on the analysis, despite being significant. This investment deficit can be explained by institutional arrangements in the power sector. The research shows that barriers to investment in renewable technologies include political uncertainty, lack of available finance, and historically low feed-in and retail tariff rates. Regulatory reform now occurring is found to be promising in this regard, and is likely to attract increased investment in renewable technologies. Continuing political uncertainty nonetheless remains a barrier to investment, given the regulatory risk it entails. In rural off-grid areas of Fiji, energy security needs to be understood differently, with fuels such as kerosene commonly used as substitutes for electricity in the provision of services. This dissertation examines energy security and power generation in four rural communities in Vanua Levu (in northern Fiji), where there is widespread use of village diesel generators and household solar photovoltaic systems installed under government rural electrification programs. A survey, interviews and focus group discussions conducted for this dissertation show that un-electrified households were disproportionately impacted by oil price volatility in recent years, due to their reliance on fossil fuels. Power outages in electrified households were also found to be common. For village diesel systems, collective responsibility for financing fuel and maintenance is problematic. Informal norms and governance arrangements at the village level only partially resolve these issues. Solar photovoltaic systems in these communities also commonly perform poorly, primarily as a result of inadequate arrangements for maintenance established by government. A number of policy implications are identified in the dissertation. Forecast renewable technology investments in the electricity grid are worthwhile in light of their financial and risk mitigation benefits. Regulatory reform now underway and high retail and feed-in tariff rates already in place are facilitating such investment. Policy measures that could further encourage investment in renewable technologies include those designed to strengthen political and regulatory certainty; improve access to finance, land, and renewable energy resources; reform the sugar industry; and support research on renewable energy resources. Mechanisms designed to encourage the use of energy efficiency technologies should also be adopted. In rural off-grid areas, there are strong financial and social benefits from electricity provision, but reform of rural electrification programs is needed.

The New Zealand Government’s objective in reforming the electricity supply industry has been economic efficiency. Policy actions specific to the power distribution sector have been based on the premise that electricity distribution is a natural monopoly, and a key desired outcome has been efficient and “fair” prices— those which allow electricity distributors to make a “fair return” on their network investments, while ensuring that consumers face prices which are “subsidy-free”. This thesis poses the question: what are the characteristics of efficient and “fair” prices for power distribution network services? Of crucial significance to this question is the time dimension, since debates over pricing principles posit: static versus dynamic efficiency; short run versus long run marginal cost; backward-looking versus forward-looking costs; historic cost versus replacement cost valuation; and back-loaded versus front-loaded depreciation. To address this question, a deterministic two-good/two-period model of intertemporal subsidy-free prices and economic depreciation is presented, by extending the model of intertemporal unsustainability developed by the contestability theorists, William Baumol, John Panzar and Robert Willig. This new model indicates that intertemporally subsidy-free prices are forward-looking, indexed to the hypothetical amortised opportunity costs incurred by a coalition of current and future consumers optimally constructing a greenfields network to meet their own demand. Depending on the similarities between this notional asset configuration and the incumbent distributor’s actual network, such prices may or may not reflect the distributor’s historic or replacement costs. Where spare capacity is optimally built today, in anticipation of future demand, prices should cover the opportunity cost of the total capacity required to meet current and future demand. Where capacity does not require expansion or replacement until some later date, prices should initially cover the opportunity cost of the capacity required to meet current demand alone, then rise to the cost of total capacity at such time as it would become optimal for consumers to construct greenfields capacity sufficient to meet both current and anticipated demand. These results reaffirm Marcel Boiteux’s position that spare capacity has its own income, as well as Ralph Turvey’s view that the expectation of lower costs in future raises today’s prices, providing—in some cases—justification for accelerated depreciation. However, under New Zealand’s light-handed regulatory regime, electricity distributor prices and associated depreciation schedules do not appear to have exhibited these characteristics.

The monitoring and supervision of local government is usually done by central governments. However in some countries like South Africa where there three spheres of government the provincial executive is charged with the supervision of the local sphere of government. In Zimbabwe the monitoring and supervision of local government is done by the central government through the relevant Minister. This study will look at the appointment of a caretaker to act as council in terms of section 80 of the UCA. Although a similar provision exists in section 158 of the RDCA, it is section 80 that has been vigorously applied by the Minister in recent times and which has caused an outcry from urban local authorities.

Esta dissertação procura refletir sobre o processo orçamental nas suas fases mais determi-nantes. Inicialmente procede-se a uma apresentação de conceitos que é posteriormente com-pletada com a exposição das experiências reais num número relevante de países. Esta análi-se teórica, completada com práticas orçamentais, permitirá formar uma ideia mais sólida sobre a realidade. A comparação de diferentes realidades normativas, socioculturais, económicas, financeiras e políticas solidifica esta análise. A investigação tem como objetivo aprender com diferentes práticas procurando arrolar o que está em maior dissonância com a realidade portuguesa. Estas diferenças encontradas podem vir a ser objeto de projetos de melhoria na procura de um sistema orçamental mais resiliente. O presente trabalho estrutura-se em três capítulos. No primeiro capítulo apresenta-se o caráter específico e o enquadramento legal da Administração Pública, assim como os mais importantes modelos teóricos de organização das administrações públicas e as origens do Orçamento do Estado usando, para tal, uma explanação bibliográfica. O segundo capítulo descreve e apresenta os principais conceitos sobre os temas e as diversas fases do orçamen-to do Estado. Por fim, o terceiro capítulo apresenta os dados sobre os processos orçamentais dos países da OCDE, com referência a 2012, com base na “International Budget Practices and Procedures Database” que permite a comparação entre as práticas dos países, salientan-do especificamente o caso português.
This dissertation seeks to reflect on the budgetary process and its most crucial stages. Firstly, there is a presentation of concepts that is further completed with the presentation of the current experiences in a relevant number of countries. This theoretical analysis, supplemented with budgetary practices will form a solid idea about the reality. The comparison of different regula-tory, socio-cultural, economic, financial and political realities solidifies the analysis. The investigation aims to learn from different practices looking for what is in greater disso-nance with the Portuguese reality. These differences may be a subject of improvement in search of a more resilient budgetary system. The present paper is structured in three chapters. The first chapter presents the specific characteristics and the legal framework of the public administration, as well as the most im-portant theoretical models of public management and the origins of the budget for the public sector. For this purpose it was used an explanation essay. The second chapter presents and describes the main concepts about the different stages of the budget of the public sector. Fi-nally, the third chapter presents data about the budgetary techniques in OECD countries, with reference to 2012, based on "International Budget Practices and Procedures Database" which allows the comparison between the practices of the countries, with a special emphasis on the Portuguese case.