National Energy Plan for Belize - Public Utilities Commission

Strengthening of the Public Utilities Commission Project

The project was officially launched by the Prime Minister of Belize and the Country Representative of the IDB at a ceremony in Belize City, on 20th October 2004. Click here for a transcript of the speech given by Dr Canton, Chairman of the PUC, at the Launch ceremony.

Click here for the project description.

Consultancy Timetable

The Strengthening of the Public Utilities Commission project involves a number of consultancies which are detailed below. Submissions are invited from consultants from MIF member countries. Click here for eligibility criteria. The consultancy advert and Terms of Reference can be accessed by clicking on the relevant consultancy description.

further information can be obtained from the Project Manager at pucundp@btl.net

description	start date	status
General
Strategic Plan	Oct‘04	closed
Public Information/Communications Plan	Jan‘05	closed
Customer Codes (electricity, telecoms, water)	na	in house
PUC Uniform Codes of Account	na	TOR not yet available
MIS/IT Strategy	Jun‘06	closed
Legal
Review of Governing Legislation & International Treaties	Nov‘04	closed
Public Hearing/Meeting Protocol	na	closed
Electricity
Rate Setting Methodology and Quality of Service Standards	Jan‘05	closed
Telecommunications
Rate Setting Methodology and Interconnection	Jan‘05	closed
Frequency Spectrum Policy & Management Systems	Mar'06	closed
Universal Services Framework and Implementation Plan	Jan'06	closed
Minimum Quality of Service Standards	Jan'06	closed
Water and Sewerage
Minimum Quality of Service Standards	Mar'06	closed
Monitoring and Compliance
Identification of Monitoring Equipment & Systems	na	TOR not yet available
Database of Approved Equipment	Jul‘05	closed
Establishment of Appropriate Penalty Regime	na	closed

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The “Strengthening of the Public Utilities Commission Project” is a 2 year project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and co-funded by the Public Utilities Commission.

The project aims to increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness of public utilities in Belize by assisting the Public Utilities Commission to establish the appropriate technical, regulatory and institutional frameworks to become fully operational and effective in discharging its responsibilities.

The project will provide technical assistance in preparing Regulations and Orders, necessary for the effective regulation of all three sectors. This technical assistance will also identify weaknesses in existing legislation in matters such as competition policies, antitrust laws, etc. The project will also provide in-house training for the Commissioners and Staff in proven principles and practices of utility regulation. The consultants hired will train the local staff in the theory and practice of modern incentive-compatible utility regulation. The training program will mainly cover topics such as the role of the regulator, relationship between the regulation and competition, incentive based regulatory systems, regulation of service standards, monitoring and enforcement, etc.

The project has the following three main components:

Strategic technical assistance to strengthen operational PUC capabilities;
development and implementation of an Integrated Management System (IMS) with monitoring and compliance capability; and
regulation improvements in telecommunications, electricity, water, consumer affairs and monitoring and compliance.