Electricity: the need to review the model
the electricity sector needs an electric shock. This is necessary in view of the weak signals and even risks identified by the French Competition Council in its opinion on «the state of competition in the electricity sector and prospects for its development». The Council calls for a revision of the model to boost competition in the electricity generation market and accelerate reforms.
The market is characterized by the presence of numerous public and private players, organized around the National Water and Electricity Office (ONEE). The Office remains the main supplier of electrical energy and is responsible for several key functions: generation, transmission network management, distribution, and supply-demand balance. But the multiplicity of institutional players poses a number of organizational problems: a lack of pooling of financial and human resources, problems of efficiency in planning, coordination and decision-making for the implementation of reforms, and several technical supervisory bodies. In the distribution sector, this multiplicity of stakeholders can lead to risks of investment duplication and a limited ability to respond effectively to consumers’ growing expectations in terms of service quality and project financing costs. In addition, the lack of a clear definition of the scope of intervention of certain bodies involved in the market, such as the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency (AMEE) and the Energy Investment Corporation (Société d’Investissements Énergétiques, SIE), whose remits overlap in certain respects, is causing delays in achieving the goals of the national energy efficiency policy.
The legal framework governing this sector is also criticized. The framework is not conducive to the development of electricity supply, as it is incomplete and lacks incentives. In any case, despite positive adjustments in the institutional framework governing the electricity market (development of new production capacity, increasing the share of renewable energies in the national electricity mix and partial market liberalization), the reforms are characterized by delays and selectivity in their implementation, thus hindering the market’s full potential.
The restriction to EHV and HV grids has hampered the large-scale development of the renewable electricity market and the self-generation regime, limiting the opportunities for certain energy-intensive companies and private MV and LV operators to benefit from the competitive prices offered by private developers. Similarly, delays in the publication of the necessary pieces of regulation have hampered the connectivity of renewable projects to the grid and delayed the efficient exploitation of available resources.
Khadija MASMOUDI
