Abundant affordable electricity matters to everyone.
Contract transparency has helped reduce corruption and improved management of oil, gas, and mineral resources. Transparency in the electricity sector can improve sector governance, accelerate clean energy deployment, and expand access to clean energy for more people and end global energy poverty.
Problem
In mature energy markets, a wealth of publicly available data about electricity contracts and pricing is available, allowing open competitive markets to drive lower prices and higher service quality. By contrast, in most emerging markets, the standard contract for financing electricity infrastructure – the PPA – is often negotiated, signed, and implemented without any public knowledge.
PPAs often represent sizable taxpayer obligations, may include noncompetitive provisions, and can have large impacts on the availability of abundant and affordable power.
Opaque negotiations can undermine competitive pressure and lead governments to overpay and projects to be delayed.
Public disclosure of contracts would greatly enhance competitiveness among clean energy developers and financiers, ensuring value-for-money for new power projects.
Because markets like utility-scale solar are increasingly dynamic and getting cheaper, contract transparency can unlock investment by providing critical market information.
Growing evidence links this routine publication with improved competition and lower prices. That’s why countries including Brazil, Slovakia, Georgia, Chile, Colombia, and the United Kingdom proactively publish government contracts.
What you can do
Disclose basic information on PPAs for all power projects at the time of signing;
Commit to publish PPAs within one year of financial close for all power projects supported by sovereign guarantees, development financing, or technical assistance;
Commit to enact laws and policies to enshrine PPA disclosure;
Encourage partners to establish global PPA disclosure norms.
