Micro Infrastructure: Regulators Must Take Small Operators Seriously
Author: Bill Baker and Sophie Tremolet Date: 10/1/2000 (PDF, 200KB)
Small-scale providers of infrastructure services are proving to be more responsive than utilities to needs of poor consumers. They might be delivering water services by tanker, transport services by minivan, or electricity through mini-grids or household solar panels. They make their services affordable to the poor by using cheaper technology or permitting flexible payment. Regulators are customarily hostile to these alternative providers. The interests of the poor would be better served if regulators treated them as valid service providers and brought them under a regulatory umbrella.