Private Utility Supply in a Hostile Environment: The Experience of Water, Sanitation and Electricity Distribution Utilities in Northern Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador

This report examines the problems of theft, nonpayment and political opportunism in the aftermath of privatization by considering the recent experiences of four private utilities in Latin America that operate in water and sanitation, and electricity supply. The basis for the analysis that follows is primarily the information supplied by participants in two workshops held at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C., on September 9th and November 19th, 2004. The first workshop dealt with theft and nonpayment, and the second addressed political opportunism. In addition, participants at each workshop discussed the experiences of two utilities, one in electricity and one in water, with the intention of extracting common lessons applicable to different types of network utilities rather than specific to a single sector. The workshops provided the opportunity for utility managers and IDB staff to present their experiences. The second workshop also included regulators.