The Electricity Governance Initiative Brazil recently released the report, Benchmarking Best Practice and Promoting Accountability in the Electricity Sector. Using the EGI indicator toolkit the report assesses the relative strengths and weaknesses of the electricity policy and regulatory process in Brazil.

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This year’s Civil Society Energy Caucus in South Africa was organized around a distinctly governance theme: The new nexus of power and accountability in South African energy.

A new report documents the continuing work of EGI partner Palang Thai to build the capacity of the newly formed Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). Palang Thai worked with Washington State-based AWISH (A World Institute for a Sustainable Humanity) to organize an exchange trip that brought high level Thai and US counterparts together for a set of discussions on power sector planning and regulation.

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EGI has begun to explore the potential of the EGI process in the Central Asian countries of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Efforts to develop the immense hydropower resources of the two countries have the dual objective of increasing domestic power supply and generating power for an export market. Sector reform has been underway since 1997 to improve economic efficiency and create an attractive investment climate. However, neither the financial health of the sector nor reliability of supply have improved in the last 12 years. EGI is working with civil society coalitions in both countries to test a subset of indicators from the EGI toolkit, and to explore the possibility of using the EGI process to initiate a multistakeholder dialog to improve sector governance.

This report draws on the presentations and discussions of the two day Clean Energy, Good Governance and Regulation Forum organized by the World Resources Institute, Prayas Energy Group and REEEP in March 2008. Hosted by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, the Forum brought together regulators from India, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the US and Australia to share information about initiatives launched by their respective institutions to promote sustainable energy.

The Electricity Governance Initiative (EGI) has launched a new effort in South Africa with the aim of improving governance of the electricity sector. The initiative has begun in the context of a power crisis where reserve margins are unprecedentedly low, resulting in an inadequate power supply to meet demand. Idasa (the Institute for Democracy in South Africa is leading this effort, in recognition of the need to link its economic governance work to a deeper program on electricity and resource allocation at this critical moment. The crisis presents an opportunity for improved integration of clean energy into South Africa ’s energy mix – yet robust governance frameworks will be necessary in order to help manage tradeoffs between environmental, social, and financial considerations.

EGI has launched a new effort to improve governance of the electricity sector in Brazil. The initiative is being led by Brazil’s leading consumer advocacy group, the Institute for Consumer Defense (IDEC). Greater understanding of, and responsiveness to, the concerns and motivations of consumers with respect to environmental sustainability will be integral to EGI/Brazil’s efforts.

Alternative Power Planning, a booklet published by Prayas Energy Group and Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group, seeks to address environmental and economic concerns and ensure a sustainable way forward for India’s power sector.

The Electricity Governance Initiative’s analysis and partners have contributed to a new Energy Industry Act in Thailand that confirms the importance of public participation in decision-making and establishes a new independent electricity regulator.

The Thai government awarded licenses to construct four new power plants earlier this month. Glow Energy, Thai Oil, and the Japan’s Electric Power (J-Power). The four plants will produce around 4,400 MW of power. Glow will construct a 660-MW coal-fired plant, Thai Oil will build a 540-MW coal-fired plant, and J-Power will construct two 1,600-MW gas-fired plants.