Advisory Services to the Sichuan Electric Power Corporation, China

When:                  2000 to 2004

Client:                   Dessau Soprin, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Ultimate client:     Sichuan Electric Power Corporation (SEPC), Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

I was asked to be the financial and tariffs specialist on this project, which was to provide the corporate staff of the SEPC with training in a variety of areas, including market forecasting. generation planning, transmission planning and financial analysis/ tariffs. I focused on two main areas: financial forecasts and cost of service studies, along with some tariff design.

The approach used in the project was a little unusual, with the experts, including myself, starting the work with a one-week training period and lectures in Chengdu, from which the trainees were subsequently expected to prepare a strategic plan for the utility - by themselves.

The process took about four years, during which SEPC staff prepared their plan in a number of steps, including:

• Careful study of course notes and the preparation of detailed questions on how they would proceed. These questions were discussed with me and the other Dessau Soprin experts on a subsequent study tour of Canada.
• Preparation of an initial plan, which was reviewed and critiqued by us and then discussed extensively during a followup trip to Chengdu.
• Preparation of the final plan and its review by the Dessau Soprin experts.

Given that SEPC staff had little knowledge at the beginning of the project of many of the concepts required to undertake the work, it went surprising well, with quite an adequate corporate plan eventually prepared and submitted at the end of the process for consideration by the senior management of the Sichuan Electric Power Corporation, China.