An Integrated Framework for Energy Pricing in Developing Countries

In recent years, decisionmakers in an increasing number of countries have realized that energy sector investment planning and pricing should be carried out on an integrated basis, e.g., within the framework of a national energy master plan that determines energy policy, ranging from short-run supply-demand management to long-run planning. However, in practice investment planning and pricing are still carried out on an ad hoc and at best partial or subsector basis. Thus, electricity and oil subsector planning have traditionally been carried out independent of each other as well as independent of other energy subsectors. As long as energy was cheap, such partial approaches and the resulting economic losses were acceptable, but lately, with rising energy costs and changes in relative fuel prices, and substitution possibilities, the advantages of an integrated energy policy have become evident.