Latest news with #CPPA
RTÉ News
20 hours ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
Flogas to power main stage at Electric Picnic with renewable energy
Flogas has announced its partnership with Electric Picnic, becoming the festival's official energy partner. The collaboration will see Flogas, part of DCC plc, power the Electric Picnic main stage with renewable electricity via the electricity grid, reducing the event's carbon footprint and showcasing best practices for sustainable event management. At the centre of the partnership is a Corporate Power Purchase agreement (CPPA) between Flogas and Highfield Energy's Jaroma wind farm in Co Tipperary. Ensuring the grid supplied electricity powering the main stage is sourced from Irish renewable wind energy, any balance of consumption not powered by this CPPA is backed by GOs (Guarantee of Origin). Flogas said this not only guarantees a cleaner, greener festival experience but also reflects both organisations' long-term commitment to environmental leadership. "This partnership with Electric Picnic is a proud moment for Flogas," said John Rooney, Managing Director of Flogas. "We're delighted to be powering the main stage with renewable electricity, helping to significantly cut the festival's carbon emissions. "It's a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate how local, renewable energy can deliver at scale and support a more sustainable future for everyone." Melvin Benn, Festival Director of Electric Picnic said, "We're delighted to welcome Flogas as the Official Energy Partner of Electric Picnic. Flogas's expertise and leadership in renewable energy make them the perfect partner as we continue to reduce the festival's environmental impact."
Business Journals
30-05-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Understanding how the latest changes to California privacy law may impact New York companies
Businesses located in and outside of California may be subject to additional obligations pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended this year. The amendments include steeper fines for violations of the CCPA and its accompanying regulations. The CCPA amendments also modify existing rights, while additional proposed regulatory changes impose new obligations regarding cybersecurity audit record retention, risk assessment deadlines, and procedures for utilizing automated decision-making technology (ADMT), among other things. This article highlights some amendments of interest that took effect on Jan. 1, 2025, as well as regulatory proposals that may take effect as early as Oct. 31, 2025. Covered businesses that meet certain threshold revenue and activity requirements, share common branding with a business subject to the CCPA, or have certain business relationships with other companies subject to the CCPA, should pay attention to these amendments, with more on the horizon. Increased fines Fines for certain violations increased as follows: Unintentional violation: Fine increased from $2,500 to $2,663 per violation. Intentional violation: Fine increased from $7,500 to $7,988 per violation. Intentional violations involving minors: Fine of $7,988 per violation for those involving minors under 16 years of age. Civil penalties: Civil penalties for each person per incident range from $107 to $799, whichever is greater. New obligations of covered businesses The amendments also modify existing rights of and add obligations imposed on businesses. Those obligations include: Neural data: This information, generated by measuring activity of the nervous system, is considered 'sensitive personal information.' The same privacy protections afforded to sensitive personal information (e.g., precise geolocation, citizenship, racial or ethnic origin) extend to neural data, including consent to collect or use and complying with requests to delete or opt out of sharing. Opt-out in mergers: Entities that acquire other businesses through mergers and acquisitions must honor opt-out requests made to the acquired company. The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), a state agency established to implement and enforce the CCPA, also proposed regulatory changes that would create new obligations on businesses which may take effect later this year: Audit record retention: A covered business, not just the auditor, must now keep a record of its annual cybersecurity audits for at least five years. Risk assessment: While no deadline previously existed, covered businesses must now update their privacy risk assessments within 45 days of any material change (that introduces new risks or may weaken personal data protections) in data processing activities. ADMT: Covered businesses will be required to provide information about their use of ADMT in significant decision-making (e.g., financial services, employment screening, pricing) upon a resident's request. Businesses must also accommodate a resident's appeal of the business's use of ADMT or opt out of ADMT. The proposed regulatory amendments are subject to change based on comments submitted to the CPPA after the time of writing. Compliance strategy Businesses need to determine whether they are subject to the CCPA directly or through entities with which they have business relationships. To assist in this analysis and in developing a compliance program, businesses should consider their data collection, processing and transfer activities, evaluate sufficiency of risk assessment and audit procedures, and review opt-out mechanisms. To assist in this process, experts who are well-versed in these issues and your industry may be particularly helpful. Anna Mercado Clark, Partner and Chief Information Security Officer at Phillips Lytle, is the Co-Leader of the firm's Technology Industry Team. She can be reached at aclark@ or 212-508-0466.
Business Recorder
21-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Energy reforms: Familiar tools, new promises
The IMF's First Review under the SBA and approval of Pakistan's Climate Resilient Sustainability Facility (RSF) both place the country's energy sector squarely in focus. From petroleum and electricity to gas, the reform roadmap is extensive — but deeply familiar in approach. Some reforms are front-loaded with structural benchmarks; others are deferred to the distant end of the program. In the near term, the emphasis remains on revenue extraction, circular debt containment, and tariff rationalizationon — all of which rest heavily on consumer shoulders. Consider the Circular Debt Management Plan. The plan seeks to convert up to 80 percent of the circular debt stock — currently CPPA payment arrears — into new CPPA debt via a sukuk. This financial engineering is expected to significantly lower the interest burden, given sukuk's lower yields. The IMF points out that nearly half of recent circular debt flows have come from interest charges on arrears — and this conversion would ostensibly free up fiscal space, reduce the need for subsidies (a third of which are used for debt clearance), and stabilize the system. But the real story is that consumers are being asked to foot the bill through a fixed debt service surcharge (DSS) of Rs3.23/unit over six years, expected to yield close to Rs2 trillion. For this to succeed, the government must also remove the existing DSS cap by June 2025 — a structural benchmark under the RSF. One might call this reform, but it's more accurately a transfer of inefficiency costs to end-users, while structural fixes to theft, line losses, and governance continue to get lip service, not benchmarks. On petroleum, the front-loaded benchmark is clearer: a Rs5/litre carbon levy on gasoline and diesel, to be legislated under the FY26 Finance Act. This levy is essential to unlock the September RSF tranche and will be gradually phased in. It extends the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) scope to fuel oil as well — and future finance acts may hike it further. Given the rather aggressive climate financing needs outlined in the report, the IMF has not gone too hard in terms of carbon levies. The forecasted Rs1.3 trillion in lieu of Petroleum Levy revenues for FY26 would not require a substantial increase from existing rates. Part of the additional PDL — Rs10/litre — will finance a limited electricity subsidy of Rs1.7/unit for non-lifeline consumers, running through FY26. Another Rs0.90/unit relief will come from the captive power plant (CPP) transition levy. This brings much-needed clarity on the electricity tariff relief, particularly addressing recent questions around whether the Rs1.7/unit reduction — currently in effect this quarter — is a temporary or permanent measure. The bigger reform narrative — revamping the subsidy architecture — is deferred. The IMF rightly points out that Pakistan's current system is distortionary, often benefiting wealthier consumers and promoting overconsumption. The long-term plan is to eliminate cross-subsidies and replace them with targeted, cash-based subsidies via BISP, starting in FY27. Initial consumer verification is planned by January 2026, followed by eligibility criteria by July 2026, and rebates to be launched by January 2027. This is sound in theory — and if done well, could be transformative. But it is neither prioritized nor benchmarked for the current fiscal cycle. Efficiency, too, gets a nod — in the form of minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) for appliances. By end-June 2027, compliance targets have been set for fans, LEDs, refrigerators, air conditioners, and motors. But again, these goals are tied to the program's final stages and will likely be overshadowed by more immediate revenue-focused reforms. Meanwhile, critical areas like privatization of discos and gencos, resolution of transmission bottlenecks, and addressing systemic theft and losses continue to be acknowledged — but are not attached to performance criteria or disbursement conditions. They remain second-order priorities in the reform matrix. As has often been the case, the more straightforward measures — such as increasing levies and introducing surcharges — are being prioritized and framed as reform. While there has been some movement on addressing the deeper institutional, technical, and governance-related inefficiencies in Pakistan's energy sector, progress remains gradual. Consumers are once again being asked to shoulder more of the burden, even as core structural challenges persist. Whether this round of reforms will deliver more lasting results than previous efforts will ultimately depend, as always, on sustained political commitment.
National Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Businesses Face a Surge in Opt-Out Enforcement: Ketch Launches Privacy 360 Analytics Suite to Help Teams "Show Their Work"
Article content Article content Article content SAN FRANCISCO — Ketch, the Data Permissioning Platform for privacy operations and data activation, today announced the release of its Privacy 360 Analytics Suite, giving businesses a powerful solution to track and prove how they honor consumer privacy choices as regulatory scrutiny intensifies. Article content As regulatory agencies step up enforcement against companies that fail to properly honor consumer privacy choices, privacy and legal teams face a critical challenge: proving that consent experiences work as intended and that customer choices have been reliably respected. Article content The Ketch Privacy 360 Analytics Suite provides a unified, historical view of consent, rights, and preferences orchestration across every customer touchpoint. Built to address the #1 most enforced issue in privacy—opt-out compliance—the suite enables businesses to quickly and confidently 'show their work' when responding to regulator inquiries, demand letters, or audits. Article content Recent CPPA (California Privacy Protection Agency) enforcement actions against brands like Honda and Todd Snyder have cited failures in consent management platform (CMP) configurations and opt-out compliance. In these cases, the absence of reliable reporting tools exacerbated penalties and reputational damage. Article content 'Privacy regulators are increasingly demanding proof, not promises,' said Alysa Hutnik, Partner at Kelley Drye. 'Opt-out compliance is a top enforcement priority today, and inadequate or misconfigured technology can be a significant unforced error, leading to litigation exposure or settlement terms that companies will have to live with for years. Better to have your Privacy teams be able to test and fix issues, versus the regulators.' Article content The Ketch Privacy 360 Analytics Suite delivers comprehensive insights across: Article content Consent and Do Not Sell (DNS): Track when, where, and how each consent or DNS choice was made, with full context and history to support audits and compliance reviews. View aggregated trend data such as consent rates according to jurisdiction. Privacy Requests: Monitor and audit rights requests from submission through fulfillment, capturing a complete record of each request's lifecycle—even across distributed systems. Marketing Preferences: View granular preference statuses including connection success with martech systems. Includes tools for bulk updates and admin changes to maintain accurate, audit-ready records. Article content Privacy 360's identity-first architecture enables businesses to trace a single customer's data permissions and rights across connected devices and systems, creating a permission data thread that stands up to regulatory scrutiny. Teams can generate reports and export data to demonstrate compliance in audits, investigations, or internal reviews—providing instant lookback and total recall when it matters most. Article content 'Privacy 360 goes beyond capturing consent choices—it proves how those choices were honored and activated,' said Max Anderson, Co-founder and Head of Product at Ketch. 'Capturing consent alone is no longer sufficient. Businesses must show not only when and how a person made a choice, but what subsequent actions took place across data systems. Privacy 360 connects identity, choice history, and data activation so teams can demonstrate that they didn't just collect preferences—they honored them.' Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
Business Recorder
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Meeting scheduled for 15-16th: PD to brief IMF on CDMP, subsidy and carbon levy law
ISLAMABAD: The Power Division is all set to brief the International Monetary Fund (IMF) virtually on circular debt development, annual rebasing outlook, power sector subsidy size and composition and carbon levy legislation on May 15-16, 2025. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government has made a series of new commitments to the IMF focused on reforming Pakistan's energy sector — including both power and gas. These commitments include regular tariff increases, transferring circular debt to the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G), and a complete halt on introducing new subsidies for electricity or gas. The government assured the IMF that subsidy on electricity and gas will be harmonized with Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) so that the facility is extended only to the deserving consumers. IMF targets: ECC orders Rs50bn reallocation from PSDP to PD The government will closely work with the IMF and World Bank to identify and verify consumers to be targeted under the new subsidy framework by end-January 2026; define eligibility criteria by end-July 2026; have a rebate mechanism in place with financial institutions by end-July 2026; and begin to roll out communications campaign around this by end-June 2025. According to the Circular Debt Management Plan (CDMP) shared with the IMF, Islamabad has promised timely electricity tariff increases consistent with cost recovery. NEPRA will continue with timely automatic notifications of regular quarterly tariff adjustments (QTAs) and monthly fuel cost adjustments (FCAS) to capture any gaps between the base tariff and actual revenue requirements that arise during the year, to prevent CD flow. And pledged to ensure the full implementation of the July 2025 annual rebasing (new SB, July 1, 2025), QTRs, and FCAs going forward. All provinces agree not to introduce any subsidy for electricity or gas. On the issue of reduction in circular debt, it has been promised to reduce the financial burden on the power sector by converting the existing CD stock to CPPA debt. The Power sector's existing CD stock is of Rs2.4 trillion (2.1 percent of GDP) which will be clear by end-FY25, Rs348 billion via renegotiation of arrears with IPPs (PRs127 billion of which will be via already-budgeted subsidy for CD stock clearance and PRs221 billion of which will be via CPPA cash flow); Rs387 billion via waived interest fees; and Rs254 billion via additional already-budgeted subsidy for CD stock clearance. Rs224 billion in non-interest-bearing liabilities will not be cleared. The remaining Rs1.252 trillion will be borrowed from banks to repay all PHL loans (Rs683 billion) and to clear the remaining stock of interest-bearing arrears to power producers (Rs569 billion). The loan will be taken on at a rate favourable to that currently paid on the CD stock (a major driver of CD flow and accumulation) and annual payments will be financed through Debt Service Surcharge (DSS) revenues over six years. The DSS will be set at 10 percent of the NEPRA-determined revenue requirement, adjusted each year at the time of annual rebasing, per current practice. In the event that DSS revenues fall short of the annual payment requirement, the DSS will be increased to make up for the shortfall and calibrated as per any anticipated future shortfalls in the succeeding year. To facilitate this, the government will adopt legislation to remove the 10 percent DSS cap by end-June 2025 (new end-June 2025 Structural Benchmark). There will be no fiscalisation of any revenue shortfall. The government has prepared a plan to retire, in a timely way, the interest-bearing CD stock anticipated at the end of FY25 (expected to be no greater than Rs337 billion, a result of gross flows this year), alongside the FY26 budget process, which will not utilise subsidy resources. With one of the primary drivers of CD flow-interest charges on delayed payments to IPPs significantly reduced, CD targets have been set lower. These targets will continue to decline to zero by FY31, the end of the operation. The Power Division will also share update on EV charging stations by end February 2027, adding that to incentivise private sector investment in EV charging stations, the government will adopt a Viability Gap Funding (VGF) framework that: (i) provides one-off subsidies; (ii) ensures sufficient competition through an open bidding process and includes clear criteria to evaluate the eligibility of projects for gap funding; and (iii) implements the first bid window. Finance Ministry has informed the Power Division that the allocation of power sector subsidies for the fiscal year 2025-26 will depend on the availability of fiscal space, well-informed sources in the Finance Division told Business Recorder. In a letter titled 'MEFP for EFF 2024-27 – Circular Debt (CD) Target for FY 2025-26,' the Power Division had sought indicative allocations for the upcoming fiscal year to bridge the circular debt gap. According to the Corporate Finance Wing of the Finance Division, budgetary allocations for the power sector in FY 2025-26 will be finalized through the standard budgetary process in consultation with the Budget and CF Wings of the Finance Division, keeping in view the prevailing fiscal constraints. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
