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NARUC Helps Organize Major Kosovo Power Summit

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners is organizing a high-level public forum next week on the privatization transactions and regulation of Kosovo’s electric utility sector.

The June 28 event in Pristina, Kosovo, is being funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development Mission in Kosovo and is designed to inform the public about the privatization of Kosovo’s KEK Electricity Distribution and Supply (KEDS) program. The event will increase the level of public understanding on why this transaction is critical to ensuring sustainable and secure electricity supply and long-term financial sustainability of the sector.

Led by Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, the half-day event will feature key stakeholders, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher William Dell, officials from the Kosovo Assembly, the U.S. Agency for International Development, consultants, senior management from KEK, consultants, and the media. The Public Forum will address key policy choices involved in Distribution Company privatization, including tariff increases and protecting vulnerable customers. 

It will be followed by two one-day technical workshops on June 29-30.  These workshops will focus on KEDS privatization and the related, ongoing transaction for generation and mine development, the New Kosovo Power Plant Project. Topics will include market design and operation, and the design of cost-recovery tariff methods and monitoring. Each of the workshops will start with an update on work-in-progress, summarize key issues, and review international best practices.

Aside from helping organize the program, NARUC is also participating by sending two officials: Darren Gill of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and Martina Schwartz of the Association’s International Department. Through its cooperative agreements with USAID, NARUC has sponsored numerous U.S. and international activities, including conferences, partnerships and technical workshops, working with countries seeking to reform and modernize their electricity sector.

“Bringing together such an impressive group of officials speaks to the importance of this forum,” said NARUC Executive Director Charles Gray. “We are honored to contribute to the discussion and offer our experiences on developing a well-regulated electricity marketplace. Mr. Gill and Ms Schwartz bring strong credentials and unique perspectives to this discussion, and I am glad they are able to represent us.”
 

NARUC is a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose members include the governmental agencies that are engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers in the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NARUC's member agencies regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. NARUC represents the interests of State public utility commissions before the three branches of the Federal government.