Rising electricity tariffs are a concern for consumers everywhere, affecting everything from household budgets to agricultural and industrial viability. Over a third of the households in the United States face some form of energy insecurity, with many having to make difficult choices between paying for electricity, food, and medicine.
The US has introduced several provisions for improving affordability, such as capping the bills to 6 percent of the household income. In other countries like India for example, while the household expenditure on electricity is currently 1.5 percent of the total income, that figure is expected to rise with increasing consumption and tariffs. In Kenya, some domestic consumers saw their tariffs increase by over 60 percent in the summer of 2023.
This webinar is the first of North x South Series (NxSS), an initiative of the Energy Opportunity Lab at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. NxSS facilitates interdisciplinary multi-country dialogue on salient energy topics, identifying common themes and cross-learnings among countries in the global north and global south.
This webinar focuses on breaking down the design of electricity tariffs in different countries, and understanding how equity-related issues are considered in the ratemaking processes. This episode of NxSS will delve into how each country is navigating aspects of affordability and equity in electricity tariff design, comparing the strategies employed by policymakers, regulators, utilities, and consumer advocates to balance these concerns with the costs of energy transition.
Speakers:
Dr. Diana Hernandez, Co-Managing Director of Energy Opportunity Lab and Associate Professor at Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University (Opening remarks)
Simran Grover, Founder & CEO, Centre For Energy, Environment & People, India
Madison Hertzog, Energy Policy Advisor, New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, USA
Daniel Kiptoo, Director General, Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Kenya
Dr. Vivek Shastry, Senior Research Associate, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University (Moderator)
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This webinar will be hosted via Zoom. Advance registration is required. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with access details. The event will be recorded and the video recording will be added to our website following the event.
This event is open to press, and registration is required to attend. For media inquiries or requests for interviews, please contact CGEP Communications (cgepmedia@columbia.edu). For more information about the event, please contact energypolicyevents@columbia.edu.
