Royal Decree No.78 of 2004 promulgating the Law for the Regulation and Privatisation of the Electricity and Related Water Sector.

This Decree consisting of 155 articles divided in VIII Parts aims at establishing the Electricity and Related Water Sector Regulatory Authority competent to regulate the electricity and related water sector. The Authority has four members responsible for managing the Authority’s affairs and for ensuring that the Authority fulfils all of its statutory obligations.
The organizational structure of the Authority is divided into four main sections: 1) the Customer Affairs section, responsible for ensuring that consumer interests are properly considered in the Authority’s decisions. It oversees the implementation of codes of practice for consumer late payments, treatment of consumers with special needs and promoting the efficient use of electricity; 2) the Economics and Financial Affairs section, responsible for setting, monitoring and controlling prices under which monopoly entities operate, contributing to proposals for rural area electrification, annual reviews for further market liberalization, and other economic and financial matters; 3) the Technical Directorate, responsible for approving, monitoring and ensuring compliance with the sector technical standards; 4) the Licensing and Legal Affairs section, responsible for monitoring the compliance of licensees and exemption holders with the terms of their licenses, advising to licence holders with regard to statutory obligations such as environmental matters, health and safety.
Duties of the Authority are: securing the provision of electricity and related water services and its safe, effective and economic operation; encouraging generation of electricity related with desalination of water; promoting competition in the electricity and related water sector; issuing regulations relating to street-works; protecting the interests of customers, in particular those with limited income, the elderly and sick; facilitating the privatization of the electricity and related water sector; and preparing and maintaining a Public Register of all matters relating to licenses and exemptions. The Authority is also subject to the following governance duties, such as: not to discriminate against or unduly prefer any Person; to minimise the regulatory burden on licence holders and exemption holders; and to give written reasons for its decisions.
The principal functions of the Authority include: implementing the general policy of the State in relation to the electricity and related water sector; regulating licences’ systems; co-ordination between relevant ministries and government units.
The VIII Parts of this Decree are entitled as follows: Definitions and General Provisions (I); The Electricity and Related Water Sector Regulatory Authority (II); Regulation and Privatisation of the Electricity and Related Water Sector (III); Conversion to Companies and the Transfer Scheme (IV); Licenses and Exemptions (V); Disputes and Appeals (VI); Offences and Penalties (VII); and Transitional and Final Provisions (VIII).