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South Asia Regional Initiative (SARI) - Rural Energy Services (RES)

CORE International, Inc. (CORE) implemented the Rural Energy Services (RES) component (2000 - 2003) of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funded South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy (SARI/Energy) Program. The RES Program focused on building the capacity of Bangladesh , Bhutan , India , Maldives , Nepal and Sri Lanka to increase energy services and access to rural and lower income groups.

With the goal to foster rural economic development and alleviate poverty, CORE's approach to designing rural energy service delivery models included integration of energy services with income generating activities at the village level. Our emphasis was to explicitly recognize the role of various stakeholders in rural energy planning and delivery and design approaches to maximize the participation of various stakeholders. The lessons learned confirm that locally developed and managed solutions have the best chance for sustainability, a message communicated by CORE to the regional participants in all of our activities. Keeping this emphasis in mind, the SARI/Energy program provided a series of training activities, workshops, and conferences covering all key implementation issues for increasing access and providing viable and sustainable energy services to rural populations in the South Asian countries participating in the SARI/Energy Program.

Through the numerous activities conducted under this program, where we reached a total participation of over 700 energy professionals in the region, CORE identified a number of best practices that could be disseminated in the region. These practices were focused on the following:

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• Promoting increased availability of commercial energy services to rural and/or lower income consumers
• Identifying regional governments' priority plans to increase rural electrification
• Increasing the opportunities for information exchanges
• Training the trainers to disseminate rural electrification experience and commercial energy services among rural and/or lower income groups throughout the region
• Designing and testing various business and institutional models, such as Rural Electric Cooperatives (RECs), franchisees, and the involvement of local village level organizations such as the village electric committees, Grama Panchayats, etc.
• Designing and testing various financing models for financing of rural energy distribution as well as decentralized rural energy supply

The training activities designed and delivered by CORE resulted in greater achievements than expected. There was constant feedback from the country participants, which helped in designing and planning the activities most suited to the South Asian countries. The following are the key highlights and accomplishments:

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• CORE training courses have created a cadre of senior energy professionals in India , Nepal , and Sri Lanka who recognize the success of the Bangladesh rural energy service delivery model based on the Rural Electricity Board (REB) as the Apex organization and some 67 rural electric cooperatives called the PBSs. The Bangladesh model has gained world-wide recognition as a very successful model for rural energy service delivery with distribution losses around 10% and collections rates around 96 percent.
• Participation of the Chairman and Secretary of the South Lalithpur Rural Electric Cooperative, the first cooperative in Nepal , in two of CORE's rural energy training courses, and a site visit to the REB and selected PBSs in Bangladesh provided the training participants crucial information on the design of an appropriate model for their cooperative. The South Lalithpur Cooperative in Nepal used skills imparted through CORE's programs to leverage Winrock International support for establishing commercial operations, especially in designing and negotiating an appropriate bulk purchase tariff for the cooperative.
• CORE proposed a pilot rural energy services agency for Nepal based largely on the Bangladesh rural electrification experience. Given the topography of Nepal and the large number of isolated pockets of rural population, the Nepalese Government is convinced that a decentralized energy supply model based on the principles of consumer cooperatives is the most suitable model for Nepal to address the rural energy supply problem in the country. The Government is developing legislation to promote cooperatives and is engaged in discussions with the donors to finance the initial establishment of selected cooperatives that could be replicated throughout the country.
• CORE conducted a rural distribution reform capacity building program to transfer billing, metering and collection responsibilities to rural local bodies in selected districts in the State of Karnataka , India , as part of an overall distribution reform strategy in India . This initiative is gaining momentum in other States in India and is a unique approach for utilities to involve the consumers and consumer representatives at the village level in the business of the utility - increasing collections and improving the quality and reliability of supply.
• Two roundtables, one on "Insights on Consumer Expectations Pertinent to a New Model of Rural Energy Supply in Nepal ", May 27-28, 2003, and the other on "Rural Electrification with a Focus on Renewable Energy Applicable in Sri Lanka "May 30-31, 2003, were conducted in local languages to encourage local rural consumer participation in rural energy service delivery. In Nepal, The Centre for Energy Studies, Institute of Engineering , Tribhuvan University, and in Sri Lanka , The Energy Forum, were the local partners for conducting the roundtables. These roundtables have generated consumer interest in participating in rural energy supply through partnerships with local distribution companies.  
• A capacity building exercise was conducted for Grama Panchayats (GPs), village level governments in India , to participate in power distribution activities with the Ministry of Energy and Power and BESCOM, a distribution utility, both in the State of Karnataka . A key component of the program was a pilot project which demonstrated the value of local consumer representative involvement in rural energy distribution and delivery to increase the efficiency of the system, reduce theft, and increase collections. An added benefit of this approach was the linkage that the rural consumers could easily see between reliable energy supply and local economic growth and poverty alleviation.

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