Tariff and Regulatory Advisor (5 Person months, International)

For one of our projects in Sindh province of Pakistan, we need the services of a Tariff and Regulatory Advisor on urgent basis. This is a Short-Term consulting position with total input of 5 man-months, based in Sukkhur city, Sindh province of Pakistan.

These are advisory and support services. Many of the tasks require collaborative effort, and the consultant is expected to collaborate closely with team members and with the consultants working on other related services for the Government of Sindh (GoS) and Norht Sindh Urban Services Corporation (NSUSC), as necessary in the discharging of the services.

The inputs are intermittent over the contract period of 29 months. Flexibility will be required in adjusting inputs, task timing and relative emphasis on particular sub-tasks depending on the needs of the NSISC and its work program. The consultant should be prepared to respond to enquiries prior to and between programmed project inputs.

Detailed tasks:

The Consultant will support NSUSC in the following areas:

NSUSC Operations and Management Systems and Reform Initiatives
i) Regulatory Environment Advise and assist NSUSC in matters relating the regulatory environment governing all NSUSC activities and particularly those relating to finance and tariff, and provide assistance as required to draft or amend regulations as appropriate in collaboration with the legal advisor.
ii) Tariff Design. Recommend tariff levels required to reach financial sustainability. Assist in designing tariff schedules for different customer classes and any cross subsidy mechanisms between different customer classes and different services. Develop and implement strategy to inform NSUSC management and Board, government authorities and customers on tariff structuring; assist NSUSC to advise Taluka Councils on tariff setting, building as appropriate from previous ADB assistance on tariff frameworks.
iii) Operations and Management Systems and Procedures. Assist NSUSC management and staff to design and implement business systems and procedures, and provide training for their use, including:

(a) Billing and Collections System, or systems to monitor outsourced services in this area

Advice and Review of Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 Subprojects
i) Capacity Development. Conduct trainings and seminars, and provide on the job training to NSUSC staff to help them develop capital projects planning and evaluation capacity and capacity to produce preliminary engineering designs.

Institutionalize Sustainable Service Provision for Low Income Consumers.
i) Tariff Review and Pro-poor Design. Assist NSUSC to analyze the impact of current tariff structures and connection fees on low income families and households. Make recommendations on revised connection fees and tariff structure to encourage NSUSC to expand services to low income areas…

Tariff and Regulatory
i) Any such other duties related to the consultants specialisation as requested by the project manager/team leader.

Required qualification and experience:

The candidates must possess at least a Master degree in finance, business administration or related field and at least 10 years experience on projects funded by international donor agencies. The consultant must possess experience in tariff structures and policies. Experience in South Asian countries, especially in Pakistan will be an added advantage.