Independent Energy Regulation in a Developing Economy

This book is an introduction to the challenges of independent regulation, a new governance institution introduced in developing economies in the wake of liberalization, to perform the role of a surrogate for competitive markets. It examines, in the Indian context, regulatory interpretation of key provisions of energy laws and regulatory statutes, as manifest in the adjudicatory orders of India’s petroleum and electricity regulators. The objective is to assess regulatory interpretations for consistency with the stated objectives of independent regulation. Comparing regulatory interpretation of energy laws with those of the higher judiciary, this study highlights the divergent perspectives of regulators and the higher judiciary on the role of independent regulation in a liberalized economy. In the process, this research attempts to gauge, not only the extent of regulatory expertise and independence in India’s energy space, but crucially, the Indian government's commitment to independence of regulators. The book also offers a glimpse of the operation of checks and balances in a relatively new institution situated outside the scope of the conventional Madisonian framework. Framed against the backdrop of extant regulatory theories, this book is of interest to regulators, policy makers, utility executives, students of law, economics and regulatory studies as well as lawyers interpreting regulators’ remit and role in a liberalized economy.