Responses of the Electricity Sector in 120 Economies to the COVID-19 Pandemic
This brief provides descriptive evidence of the operational and policy responses of the electricity sector in 120 economies to the early stages of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In addition, to assess the intensity of operational and regulato...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099621506282225990/IDU026eb43420fd950429b0961e04953f83b17b1 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37819 |
| Summary: | This brief provides descriptive
evidence of the operational and policy responses of the
electricity sector in 120 economies to the early stages of
the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In addition, to assess
the intensity of operational and regulatory actions taken in
response to the pandemic, the Brief proposes a COVID-19
electricity sector response measure. This measure comprises
seven equally weighted variables that capture either
utilities’ or utility regulators’ responses to the pandemic
as well as domestic lockdown measures. Data show that most
utilities continued issuing new electricity connections for
businesses amid the pandemic. In most cases, utilities that
continued issuing new electricity connections despite
national lockdowns were able to do so due to
well-established electronic and automated processes. In
general, maintenance works and planned outages continued
during the onset of the pandemic, although with some delays
and exceptions. Increasingly, delayed electricity payments
and defaults became more prevalent, especially among
developing economies. Hence, numerous utilities modifed
tariff and payment schedules to provide economic relief to clients. |
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