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Co-operation among energy regulators in the European Union

This paper addresses the questions of how and why do European energy regulators co-operate.It is divided into five sections: a description of the legal framewrorks and market structures of electricity and natural gas in the EU; why energy regulators have been introduced by most Member States and why different institutional formats have been adopted; why co-operation among energy regulators is necessary; the main objectives of the Council of European Energy Regulators; the role of regulators within the political and institutional framework of the EU.

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July 3, 2000
Documents

Developments in regulatory principles: the UK experience

Developments in the principles of utility regulation are assessed in the light of UK experience. The incentives-rent extraction model of price regulation, multi-product pricing and access pricing, rules for spot markets, structural regulation and the problem of regulatory commitment are discussed using a unified theoretical framework.

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July 3, 2000
Documents

Response to the MoJ’s legal services review call for evidence

This brief note responds to the MoJ’s call for evidence in the context of its review of legal
services regulation. It is based on past and current work of the Regulatory Policy Institute in
both the legal services sector and more generally across sectors of the UK economy and
internationally. It focuses on general principles rather than on specific detail.

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January 1, 2000
unrecognizable woman walking on pavement between old urban house facades
Documents

Political and regulatory risk: Is it a serious problem? Can it be limited? Report of the Risk Commission

The Regulatory Policy Institute’s Better Government Programme was established to focus on practical proposals for improving accountability and transparency in UK and EU policy and regulatory processes. Consideration of political risk – uncertainty arising from actions or the structure of policy or regulatory processes – falls naturally within that remit and is topical at a time when considerable attention is being paid to risk assessment and management as an integral part of directors’ and financiers’ duties.

The Risk Commission was originally assembled under the aegis of the Social Market Foundation. The work was subsequrntly transferred to the RPI

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January 1, 2000
a view of the whitehall court in england
Documents

Better Government Report: Political and regulatory risk: Summary

Consideration of political risk – uncertainty arising from actions or the structure of policy or regulatory processes – is topical at a time when considerable attention is being paid to risk assessment and management as an integral part of directors’ and financiers’ duties. The RPI assembled a group of politicians, former officials and Special Advisers, and corporate and City specialists to work with us in assessing the evidence.

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January 1, 2000
Documents

The nature of regulatory risk

Regulatory risk is a controversial topic. Firstly, does the presence of an industry regulator create regulatory risk, and, secondly, if regulatory risk does exist, should investors be compensated in the form of extra return? This study investigates these issues for UK regulated businesses, and, importantly, it also investigates whether the notion of regulatory risk should be widened to include the actions of one industry regulator imparting risk upon the whole regulatory sector. Capital market data is collected in connection with an announcement concerning a possible change in the regulatory regime for elctricity companies. We find substantial evidence of a consistent market reaction to the announcement acroos the electricity and water industries, with less compleeing evidence for other regulated companies. The market reaction is not explained as an adjustment for systematic risk. Therefore the conclusions from this evidence are that regulatory risk is present, that this risk may not be confined to an industry, and it is risk that does not require compensation in the form of additional return – it is unsystemic risk.

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July 16, 1996
Documents

Regulatory risk and cost of capital: summary of views of interveiwees

Between July 1995 and January 1996 a series of one-to-one reviews were carried out with all the regulatory bodies, seven investment analysts, five companies each in the electricity and water industries, British Gas (BG), British Telecom (BT and British Airports Authority (BAA). Issues focused on the sources and nature of risk, the cost of capital and other pressing concerns of interviewees. This document provides a summary of the views expressed.

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July 16, 1996
marketing office working business
Documents

How regulation works: BT’s experience

A personal perspective on the regulatory relationships, their workings, and their effects on the way business operates, including: remarks of a somewhat theoretical kind about the nature of regulation in a free market economy; an examination of the way in which ideas on what regulation is about have been incorporated into the regime for telecommunications and how these ideas have actually worked in practice; and some proposals for reform

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September 30, 1994
three assorted beverage bottles on brown wooden table
Documents

The effects of regulation in the UK beer market

From time to time UK governments and their agencies have been concerned about the level of competion in the beer market, and, in particular, whether competition is sufficiently effective to ensure that, given the government tax take, prices are kept low in relation to costs.

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January 31, 1994
Documents

Problems of regulating environmental externalities

Environmental regulation is defined as regulation undertaken to protect environmental standards. The precise objectives are, however, frequently far less clear, sometimes even to the regulator. Definition of precise objecives of the regulation is a crucial first step.

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September 16, 1993
Documents

The optimal control of global warming

This paper integrates a simple model of the global economy with a model of the global climate in order to calculate the associated evolution of global warming over the very long term. It includes both a brief non technical overview of the model and a detailed description of the model.

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September 16, 1993
Documents

Notes on energy prices and regulatory policy

Energy prices are a much favoured target of public policy, subject to price controls in franchised monopoly markets, with a levy applied to electricity generated from fossil-fuel generating sets passed over to the operators of nuclear power stations.

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September 16, 1993
Research Reports

Simplified procedures for network pricing

This paper sets out results from work in progress on the issue of tariff structures for access to, and use of, network facilities. Starting from a simple version of the notional path approach, it is argued that it is relatively straightforward to extend the method so as to incorporate genuine network features into the resulting tariff structures. The resulting approach is called least-cost notional flow analysis. The generalisation leads naturally to a tariff structure based on entry and exit charges. It also offers a framework in which conflicting objectives – such as cost reflectivitiy, cost recovery, spatial averaging of prices, ease of monitoring, etc. — can be traded-off in a relatively transparent way.

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May 31, 1992
Materials from Conferences

Wither gas regulation?

Three papers based upon presentations at a seminar held at Hertford College, Oxford in February 1992. The presentations were intended to offer rather different perspectives on gas regulation.

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April 30, 1992
Blog

What does the UK want?

The governance system of the UK has suffered Brexit paralysis for 30 months in the face of a parent-to-child question “What do you want?” It

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January 12, 1029