1st Edition
Legal Frameworks for Transparency in Water Utilities Regulation A comparative perspective
Transparency in the regulation of water utilities is essential in order to ensure quality and fairness. This book explores and compares different regulatory arrangements in the water utilities sectors in three jurisdictions to determine which regulatory and ownership model is most transparent and why. The three jurisdictions considered are England (UK), Victoria (Australia) and Jakarta (Indonesia).
Following an introduction to the importance of transparency in water utilities regulation, the book provides an overview of the three chosen jurisdictions and their legal and institutional frameworks. Through a comparison of these the author explores the contested and difficult terrain of "privatization", as (often) opposed to public ownership, in which it is shown that the relationships between transparency and ownership models are not as clear-cut as might be assumed.
Chapters consider various aspects and outcomes of the regulatory process and the role of transparency, including topics such as regulators' internal governance mechanisms, utilities corporate governance, licensing and information flow, freedom of information and transparency in tariffs and pricing, as well as customer service. The book concludes with a summary of lessons learned to inform the refinement of transparency in utilities regulation.
1. Introduction
2. Policy in Involving the Private Sector
3. The Regulator, Licences and Information Flow
4. Regulatory Functions
5. Transparency in Utilities Corporate Governance
6. The Role of Freedom of Information Law
7. Conclusion
Biography
Mohamad Mova Al'Afghani is Director of the Center for Regulation, Policy and Governance (CRPG) and Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the Universitas Ibn Khaldun Bogor, Indonesia.
"This valuable contribution seeks to unpick our understanding of transparency in the regulation and governance of water services by analysing each of these jurisdictions against an analytical framework which initially came from the literature, and then iteratively developed as the legal research progressed. Importantly, the author also looks at the internal corporate governance of the service providers themselves, noting correctly that this is often overlooked in focusing either on the roles of the regulators or policymakers, or on how to engage consumers. As demand for water increases, pressure on the resource intensifies and the need for services is still imperative, this book is timely." - Dr Sarah Hendry, Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, University of Dundee, UK
