Performance Measurement And Regulation Of Network Utilities

This book explores the important role that economic performance measurement is playing in the regulation of network utilities in many countries today. The contributors to the book – researchers from academia, regulatory agencies and consulting firms – address the use of efficiency measures in price regulation and in assessing the effects of past regulatory reforms. Industries examined include electricity supply, water supply, telecommunications and airlines, across a range of countries including the USA, UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

Performance Measurement and Regulation of Network Utilities is unique in that, unlike many other books in this area, it is devoted to the use of performance measurement in these regulatory settings. It is a timely contribution to the literature, given that performance measurement is an integral part of the new incentive regulation methods which have been adopted by many regulatory agencies around the world.

Academics specialising in regulation and performance measurement and students of regulatory economics courses, organization studies and public sector economics will all find this book of great interest. It will also appeal to regulators, regulatory consultants and regulatory sections of major utilities.

Contents:

1. Editors’ Introduction
Tim Coelli and Denis Lawrence

2. The Role of the Policy Framework for the Effectiveness of Benchmarking in Regulatory Proceedings
Phil Burns, Cloda Jenkins, Misja Mikkers and Christoph Riechmann

3. Performance Measurement in the Australian Water Supply Industry: A Preliminary Analysis
Tim Coelli and Shannon Walding

4. Telecommunications Productivity Measurement for a Regulated Monopoly in an Era of Major Network Expansion
Russel Cooper and Gary Madden

5. Productivity and Regulatory Reform of Norwegian Electricity Distribution Utilities
Dag Fjeld Edvardsen, Finn R. Førsund, Wiljar Hansen, Sverre A.C. Kittelsen and Thor Neurauter

6. Infrastructure Reform in Developing Economies: Evidence from a Survey of Economic Performance Measures
Antonio Estache, Sergio Perelman and Lourdes Trujillo

7. Market Structure, Regulation and Performance in the Airline Industry: Lessons from a Potential Alliance
John Fallon

8. Regulating Electricity Networks: The ABC of Setting X in New Zealand
Denis Lawrence and Erwin Diewert

9. A Shadow Cost Function Model of the US Water Industry Incorporating Water Quality and Ownership Effects
Roberto Mosheim

10. Regulatory Reform and Economic Performance in US Electricity Generation
Supawat Rungsuriyawiboon and Tim Coelli

11. Assessing the Performance of Water Operations in the English and Welsh Water Industry: A Lesson in the Implications of Inappropriately Assuming a Common Frontier
David S. Saal and David Parker

12. Efficiency Analysis for Incentive Regulation
Thomas Weyman-Jones, Julia Boucinha, Celia Godinho, Catarina Feteira Inacio, Pedro Martins and Jon Latore

Index