When international 'best practice' is not: Power sector reform in small island states

This chapter discusses the impact of the reforms and explores the strengths and weaknesses of different ownership and regulatory arrangements in the electricity sectors of small island states. It identifies a number of factors that influence what is an appropriate regulatory structure. The chapter also explores novel solutions suggested for small island states as a means of overcoming constraints associated with small size–solutions such as regional regulation. It is evident from this discussion that no one model is appropriate across the diverse range of small island states. The chapter describes the international context for power sector regulation. The lack of a connection with other networks also makes the integration of renewable energy technologies that produce electricity intermittently more complicated and costly, especially at high levels of penetration. Consensus around what constitutes 'best practice' regulation in the electricity sector has changed over time and in response to the mixed results of early liberalization.