Investment, security of supply and sustainability in the aftermath of three decades of power sector reform

The last three decades have witnessed many electricity industry reform processes in more than half of the countries in the world. The reforms have aimed, inter alia, at encouraging private investments in electricity infrastructure, enhancing security of electricity supply and making power industry operate in line with the requirements of the sustainable development. Using an original panel dataset from 55 developed and developing countries covering the period from 1975 to 2010, this study aims at finding out to what extent these objectives have been materialized so far. Econometric models are used to identify the effects of electricity market liberalization on these variables. The research findings suggest that the progress toward the electricity market reform is associated with a decline in private investments in the electricity industries of developing countries, higher levels of self-sufficiency in electricity supply and lower CO2 emissions from electricity generation.