Economic Regulation and Its Reform

Economic Regulation and Its Reform PDF Author: Nancy L. Rose
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022613816X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 619

Book Description
The past thirty years have witnessed a transformation of government economic intervention in broad segments of industry throughout the world. Many industries historically subject to economic price and entry controls have been largely deregulated, including natural gas, trucking, airlines, and commercial banking. However, recent concerns about market power in restructured electricity markets, airline industry instability amid chronic financial stress, and the challenges created by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which allowed commercial banks to participate in investment banking, have led to calls for renewed market intervention. Economic Regulation and Its Reform collects research by a group of distinguished scholars who explore these and other issues surrounding government economic intervention. Determining the consequences of such intervention requires a careful assessment of the costs and benefits of imperfect regulation. Moreover, government interventions may take a variety of forms, from relatively nonintrusive performance-based regulations to more aggressive antitrust and competition policies and barriers to entry. This volume introduces the key issues surrounding economic regulation, provides an assessment of the economic effects of regulatory reforms over the past three decades, and examines how these insights bear on some of today’s most significant concerns in regulatory policy.

Power Market Structure

Power Market Structure PDF Author: Maria Vagliasindi
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821395564
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Book Description
The current distribution of power markets around intermediate structures that fall between the two extremes of full integration and unbundling suggests that there has not been a linear path to power market structure reform. Rather, many developing countries may retain intermediate structures into the foreseeable future. This possibility exposes a gap in the understanding of power market structures, since most theoretical work has focused on the two extreme possibilities and there is limited evidence of the impact of unbundling for developing countries. Power Market Structure takes a novel analytical approach to modeling market structure, together with ownership and regulation, in determining performance across several indicators, including access, operational and financial performance, and environmental sustainability. Its conclusions--which will be of particular interest to policy makers, academics, and development practitioners--reflect evidence drawn from statistical analysis and a representative sample of 20 case studies, selected based on initial conditions such as income and power system size. The key result of the analysis is that unbundling delivers results when used as an entry point to implementing broader reforms, particularly introducing a sound regulatory framework, and reducing the degree of concentration of the generation and distribution segments of the market by attracting additional public and private players and greater private sector participation. In addition, there seems to be a credible empirical basis for selecting a threshold power system size and per capita income level below which unbundling of the power supply chain is not expected to be worthwhile. Partial forms of vertical unbundling do not appear to drive improvements. The most likely reason is that the owner was able to continue exercising control over the affairs of the sector and hinder the development of competitive pressure within the power market.

Electricity Restructuring

Electricity Restructuring PDF Author: Laura Lynne Kiesling
Publisher: A E I Press
ISBN: 9780844742823
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
This volume explores how Texas's groundbreaking program of electricity restructuring has become a model for truly competitive energy markets in the United States. The authors contend that restructuring in Texas has been successful because the industry is free from federal over...

Rethinking Power Sector Reform in the Developing World

Rethinking Power Sector Reform in the Developing World PDF Author: Vivien Foster
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464814430
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 482

Book Description
During the 1990s, a new paradigm for power sector reform was put forward emphasizing the restructuring of utilities, the creation of regulators, the participation of the private sector, and the establishment of competitive power markets. Twenty-five years later, only a handful of developing countries have fully implemented these Washington Consensus policies. Across the developing world, reforms were adopted rather selectively, resulting in a hybrid model, in which elements of market orientation coexist with continued state dominance of the sector. This book aims to revisit and refresh thinking on power sector reform approaches for developing countries. The approach relies heavily on evidence from the past, drawing both on broad global trends and deep case material from 15 developing countries. It is also forward looking, considering the implications of new social and environmental policy goals, as well as the emerging technological disruptions. A nuanced picture emerges. Although regulation has been widely adopted, practice often falls well short of theory, and cost recovery remains an elusive goal. The private sector has financed a substantial expansion of generation capacity; yet, its contribution to power distribution has been much more limited, with efficiency levels that can sometimes be matched by well-governed public utilities. Restructuring and liberalization have been beneficial in a handful of larger middle-income nations but have proved too complex for most countries to implement. Based on these findings, the report points to three major policy implications. First, reform efforts need to be shaped by the political and economic context of the country. The 1990s reform model was most successful in countries that had reached certain minimum conditions of power sector development and offered a supportive political environment. Second, countries found alternative institutional pathways to achieving good power sector outcomes, making a case for greater pluralism. Among the top performers, some pursued the full set of market-oriented reforms, while others retained a more important role for the state. Third, reform efforts should be driven and tailored to desired policy outcomes and less preoccupied with following a predetermined process, particularly since the twenty-first-century century agenda has added decarbonization and universal access to power sector outcomes. The Washington Consensus reforms, while supportive of the twenty-first-century century agenda, will not be able to deliver on them alone and will require complementary policy measures

Private Participation in the Indian Power Sector

Private Participation in the Indian Power Sector PDF Author: Mohua Mukherjee
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464803404
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 185

Book Description
Massive private investment that complements public investment is needed to close the demand-supply gap and make reliable power available to all Indians. Government efforts have sought to attract private sector funding and management efficiency throughout the electricity value chain, adapting its strategy over time.

Electricity Market Reform

Electricity Market Reform PDF Author: Fereidoon Sioshansi
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080462715
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 687

Book Description
Since the late 1980s, policy makers and regulators in a number of countries have liberalized, restructured or "deregulated their electric power sector, typically by introducing competition at the generation and retail level. These experiments have resulted in vastly different outcomes - some highly encouraging, others utterly disastrous. However, many countries continue along the same path for a variety of reasons. Electricity Market Reform examines the most important competitive electricity markets around the world and provides definitive answers as to why some markets have performed admirably, while others have utterly failed, often with dire financial and cost consequences. The lessons contained within are direct relevance to regulators, policy makers, the investment community, industry, academics and graduate students of electricity markets worldwide. - Covers electicity market liberalization and deregulation on a worldwide scale - Features expert contributions from key people within the electricity sector

The Power of Change

The Power of Change PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309371422
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Book Description
Electricity, supplied reliably and affordably, is foundational to the U.S. economy and is utterly indispensable to modern society. However, emissions resulting from many forms of electricity generation create environmental risks that could have significant negative economic, security, and human health consequences. Large-scale installation of cleaner power generation has been generally hampered because greener technologies are more expensive than the technologies that currently produce most of our power. Rather than trade affordability and reliability for low emissions, is there a way to balance all three? The Power of Change: Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Energy Technologies considers how to speed up innovations that would dramatically improve the performance and lower the cost of currently available technologies while also developing new advanced cleaner energy technologies. According to this report, there is an opportunity for the United States to continue to lead in the pursuit of increasingly clean, more efficient electricity through innovation in advanced technologies. The Power of Change: Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Energy Technologies makes the case that America's advantagesâ€"world-class universities and national laboratories, a vibrant private sector, and innovative states, cities, and regions that are free to experiment with a variety of public policy approachesâ€"position the United States to create and lead a new clean energy revolution. This study focuses on five paths to accelerate the market adoption of increasing clean energy and efficiency technologies: (1) expanding the portfolio of cleaner energy technology options; (2) leveraging the advantages of energy efficiency; (3) facilitating the development of increasing clean technologies, including renewables, nuclear, and cleaner fossil; (4) improving the existing technologies, systems, and infrastructure; and (5) leveling the playing field for cleaner energy technologies. The Power of Change: Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Energy Technologies is a call for leadership to transform the United States energy sector in order to both mitigate the risks of greenhouse gas and other pollutants and to spur future economic growth. This study's focus on science, technology, and economic policy makes it a valuable resource to guide support that produces innovation to meet energy challenges now and for the future.

The Future of Electricity Retailing and How We Get There

The Future of Electricity Retailing and How We Get There PDF Author: Frank A. Wolak
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030850056
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 174

Book Description
This book covers the current trends and challenges faced by regulators, policymakers, and researchers in the field of retail electricity market design and regulation. It addresses the role that “smart” technologies are playing in reshaping how utilities and consumers interact with each other and with their generating technologies. The book covers topics including smart meter adoption, dynamic pricing, demand response, distributed and utility-scale solar, technology costs trends, and the microeconomic theory that governs our understanding of retailer and consumer incentives. Existing inefficiencies of transmission and distribution network pricing as well as the potential regulatory approaches that can be used to remedy them are discussed along with the advantages of retail competition and draw attention to the barriers that currently are preventing all of the benefits of retail competition from materializing. The book uses very recent data to provide the most up-to-date overview of retailing trends and policies in the USA, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America. The book will be useful for researchers and regulators and policymakers.

Vertical Separation of the Energy-distribution Industry

Vertical Separation of the Energy-distribution Industry PDF Author: Machiel Mulder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electric utilities
Languages : en
Pages : 112

Book Description


Foundations for a Low-Carbon Energy System in China

Foundations for a Low-Carbon Energy System in China PDF Author: Henry Lee
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108905129
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Book Description
Climate change is a key problem of the 21st century. China, as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has committed to stabilize its current emissions and dramatically increase the share of electricity production from non-fossil fuels by 2030. However, this is only a first step: in the longer term, China needs to aggressively strive to reach a goal of zero-emissions. Through detailed discussions of electricity pricing, electric vehicle policies, nuclear energy policies, and renewable energy policies, this book reviews how near-term climate and energy policies can affect long-term decarbonization pathways beyond 2030, building the foundations for decarbonization in advance of its realization. Focusing primarily on the electricity sector in China - the main battleground for decarbonization over the next century – it provides a valuable resource for researchers and policymakers, as well as energy and climate experts.