Universal Service and Energy Poverty Service Universel et Pauvreté Energétique Martin Hiller, Quebec, May 2012

2 The challenge of guaranteeing access to power:  Energy poverty: either no modern power, or modern power too expensive  Problems reach from no access to constant black-outs  Improve and deepen service for vulnerable consumers  Build a powerful basis for small and medium enterprise  Clean energy solutions – efficiency and renewables – are set to provide the core of the energy revolution

Five Elements  Independence: new energy investment can liberate people – e.g. wean them off the drip of big oil and coal  People: local ‘champions’ needed to drive business or political solution  Microfinance: allow people to pay back and truly own  Business : small and medium enterprises can drive, market and implement solutions at local scale  Information: creating new clean energy markets needs free but good quality information services 3

Amazonia Renewable Energy Company  Widen energy access to Jari region in Amazonia where no entity is obliged to provide grid access  Set up a profitable RE company  Sustainable forestry (Group Orsa)  Attracting “early adopters” to the sustainable energy pilot project, launch the company  Convert 1500 families in 60 communities as well as 100 Group Orsa plants  Save 1.5 million litres diesel p.a.  Implementing partner: IDEAAS 4 Photo: IDEAAS

5 Financing the final step to poor consumers: Innovative business model based on bartering in the Pacific 2400 Households 35 Households

EE labelling system for electrical appliances in West African countries  Establish EE labelling scheme for household appliances in West African Union countries  Assess all existing EE labelling frameworks in UEMOA and int.  Design and validate a voluntary EE labelling programme for appliances  Identify technical laboratories for appliance testing (in UEMOA)  Organise and hold trainings to build capacity in the national standards bodies and Ministries of Energy  Reduce import of second hand appliances  Implementing partner: Econoler 6

Enabling small-business investments in clean energy in the Southern Mediterranean  support the investment decision process in SMEs  Develop key indicators o energy efficiency, renewable energy, ecological structures, sustainable mobility and industry location  develop a self-evaluation kit  Analyse and report on the key indicators  Create hand book and web-based tool  Train first 20 Tunisian SMEs 7

The Notion of Universal Service should be re-thought  Unlimited power supply will not exist at all times  Equal access is democratic imperative  Essential for business development  Key elements : o demand-side management - to optimize available energy, optimize combination of EE and RE o off-grid and mini-grid solutions (will become topical in all countries), o zero energy solutions should become standard - e.g. zero energy buildings 8

SERN - Sustainable Energy Regulation Network REEEP- Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership Thank you!