06/29/2026
🌍 💡 Reflecting on the 57th PURC International Training Program
As we conclude another incredible week of learning and collaboration, several key lessons stand out as essential to effective utility regulation and strategy:
✅ "Regulation is fundamentally about balancing competing interests." Every decision affects customers, utilities, investors, governments, and other stakeholders differently. Effective regulation builds trust by balancing benefits and burdens fairly.
✅ "Regulation is both an art and a science." Technical expertise matters, but good decisions also require judgment, context, and the ability to integrate different perspectives. Often, the answer is simply, "It depends."
✅ "Keep their nose in, but their fingers out." Regulators should remain informed about utility operations while allowing operators to make business and operational decisions.
✅ "Law alone is not enough." Strong regulatory systems depend not only on sound legal frameworks, but also on effective implementation, institutions, and people committed to putting those frameworks into practice.
✅ "There is no universal model of regulation." Every country must build regulatory approaches that reflect its own institutions, history, and circumstances while learning from the experiences of others.
At the heart of it all, effective regulation is about balancing competing interests, earning trust, adapting to change, and continuously learning. We're grateful for the thoughtful discussions, lasting connections, and global perspectives shared.
