October 2019 – With the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) – Energy Division, Office of Energy & Infrastructure, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) has undertaken the task of developing a Cost Reflective Tariff Toolkit. The toolkit is intended to constitute several short practical primers that can be used by utility service regulators in countries with emerging economies to design rates that are based on actual cost of service and to effectively engage the public and key stakeholders in the decision-making process.

In September 2019 NARUC published the first primer in the series titled “Promoting Transparency and Public Participation in Energy Regulation: A Communications Primer for Utility Regulators.” This primer focuses on developing a set of recommendations, or a pathway, that regulators in countries with emerging economies may want to consider when designing a communications strategy for engaging the public and key stakeholders. This set of recommendations is based on U.S. utility service regulators’ practices in communicating with the public at large during their review of a utility’s application for a change in tariff. Furthermore, the recommendations include minor adjustments to incorporate regional differences between the U.S. and countries with emerging economies.