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[publication]  Regulating a Pluralistic and Decarbonized Electricity Supply through Public Service Principles of Equity and Solidarity

Chaplain, A., Verdeil, E., 2025, « Regulating a Pluralistic and Decarbonized Electricity Supply through Public Service Principles of Equity and Solidarity », Arab Reform Initiative Policy Brief – Environmental Politics Series, En ligne : https://www.arab-reform.net/publication/regulating-a-pluralistic-and-decarbonized-electricity-supply-through-public-service-principles-of-equity-and-solidarity/.

Résumé:

The impressive solar boom that took place in Lebanon in recent years didn’t ensure social justice and it rather increased inequalities of access to electricity. The aim of this policy brief is to reflect on the development of a structurally pluralistic and decarbonized electricity supply, where public infrastructure is the main tool for mutualization and equity. To be effective, it requires the definition and implementation of public service principles. The great heterogeneity in electricity supply — combining the grid, generators, and renewable energies — requires a rethink in public service. It can no longer be based on the principles of a uniform service and equal user treatment that characterize conventional grid-based services. Instead, it should be based on universal and equitable access to a diversified and increasingly decarbonized service. In supplying a public service, solidarity between users is key. Solidarity is socio-technical, involving pooling, sharing, and regulating between a wide range of systems that optimize national supply from an economic, technical, and environmental perspective. But solidarity above all is socio-political, with public services theoretically embodying equity and socio-spatial integration among citizen-users, thereby giving substance to fundamental rights inherent to national solidarity and citizenship in Lebanon. Our proposal is therefore to rethink these principles of public service considering the electrical transformations currently underway in Lebanon. This work is based on the doctoral thesis defended by Alix Chaplain in 2023 and comparative research carried out as part of the Hybridelec project coordinated by Eric Verdeil and Sylvy Jaglin, updated with recent data.