Michael G. Pollitt

Benchmarking and regulation: international electricity experience

Abstract An increasing number of countries are adopting incentive regulation to promote efficiency improvement in electricity transmission and distribution utilities. Incentive regulation almost invariably involves some form of benchmarking or comparison of actual versus some reference performance. This paper discusses the main benchmarking methods and presents the findings of a survey of the methods used in the OECD and a few other countries. We find and discuss a variety of methods used by the regulators with a notable preference for the non-parametric methods. The paper also outlines the main outstanding issues and lessons for best practice implementation of benchmarking for regulation.

International benchmarking and regulation: an application to European electricity distribution utilities

Due to a shortage of data and increased international mergers, national energy regulators are looking to international benchmarking analyses for help in setting price controls within incentive regulation. We present an international benchmarking study of 63 regional electricity distribution utilities in six European countries that aims to illustrate the methodological and data issues encountered in the use of international benchmarking for utility regulation. The study examines the effect of the choice of benchmarking methods using DEA, COLS and SFA models. We discuss what problems of international benchmarking are highlighted by the study and how they can be overcome.

Incorporating both undesirable outputs and uncontrollable variables into DEA: The performance of Chinese coal-fired power plants

There are two difficulties in doing an objective evaluation of the performance of decision making units (DMUs). The first one is how to treat undesirable outputs jointly produced with the desirable outputs, and the second one is how to treat uncontrollable variables, which often capture the impact of the operating environment. Given difficulties in both model construction and data availability, very few published papers simultaneously consider the above two problems. This article attempts to do so by proposing six DEA-based performance evaluation models based on a research sample of the Chinese coal-fired power plants. The finding of this paper not only contributes for the performance measurement methodology, but also has policy implications for the Chinese coal-fired power sector.

Electricity sector reform in developing countries : a survey of empirical evidence on determinants and performance

Driven by ideology, economic reasoning, and early success stories, vast amounts of financial resources and effort have been spent on reforming infrastructure industries in developing countries. It is therefore important to examine whether evidence supports the logic of reforms. The authors review the empirical evidence on electricity reform in developing countries. They find that country institutions and sector governance play an important role in the success and failure of reform. And reforms also appear to have increased operating efficiency and expanded access to urban customers. However, the reforms have to a lesser degree passed on efficiency gains to customers, tackled distributional effects, and improved rural access. Moreover, some of the literature is not methodologically robust and on par with general development economics literature. Further, findings on some issues are limited and inconclusive, while other important areas are yet to be addressed. Until we know more, implementation of reforms will be more based on ideology and economic theory rather than solid economic evidence.

Electricity reform in Chile. Lessons for developing countries

Chile was the first country in the world to implement a comprehensive reform of its electricity sector in the recent period. Among developing countries only Argentina has had a comparably comprehensive and successful reform. This paper traces the history of the Chilean reform, which began in 1982, and assesses its progress and its lessons. We conclude that the reform has been very successful. We suggest lessons for the generation, transmission and distribution sectors, as well as the economic regulation of electricity and the general institutional environment favourable to reform. We note that while the initial market structure and regulatory arrangements did give rise to certain problems, the overall experience argues strongly for the private ownership and operation of the electricity industry.

Quality of Service, Efficiency and Scale in Network Industries: An analysis of European electricity distribution

Quality of service (QoS) is of major economic significance in natural monopoly infrastructure industries. In this article, we present an efficiency analysis of electricity distribution networks from seven European countries. We apply the stochastic frontier analysis method to multi-output translog input distance function models to estimate cost efficiency and scale economies. We show that introducing the quality dimension into the analysis affects estimated efficiency significantly, especially that smaller utilities’ efficiency seems to decrease. Our results emphasize that QoS should be an integrated part of efficiency and economic analysis of regulated natural monopolies.

BENCHMARKING AND REGULATION OF ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES: LESSONS FROM INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Since the early 1980’s, many countries have implemented electricity sector reform, many of which have bundled generation, transmission, distribution and supply activities, and have introduced competition in generation and supply. An increasing number of countries are also adopting incentive regulation to promote efficiency improvement in the natural monopoly activities - transmission and distribution. Incentive regulation almost invariably involves benchmarking or comparison of actual vs. some reference performance. This paper reviews the main approaches to incentive regulation and discusses various benchmarking methods. We also present the finding of a survey of the use of benchmarking methods in the OECD and few other countries. Our survey finds a variety of methods used by the electricity regulators although with a notable preference for the non-parametric methods. We then draw conclusions based on the finding of the survey highlighting the main outstanding issues and lessons for best practice implementation of benchmarking in electricity regulation.

Modelling the Costs of Electricity Regulation: Evidence of Human Resource Constraints in Developing Countries

Successful electricity industry reform depends on the presence of an appropriately staffed regulatory agency for the liberalised sector. However developing countries can have resource constraints that make the establishment of an effective regulatory agency difficult. This paper attempts an econometric modelling of staff numbers in electricity regulatory institutions. We specify a model of the determinants of staff numbers that reflects electricity system complexity as well as national economic and regulatory environments. We empirically estimate a translog cost function specification of the model using data on 60 electricity regulators collected from an international questionnaire survey in 2000-01. We conclude that there are significant differences between the regulatory cost functions of developed and developing countries and that, in establishing independent regulatory agencies, developing countries face high fixed costs relative to market size.

Smart Metering and Electricity Demand: Technology, Economics and International Experience

In recent years smart metering of electricity demand has attracted attention around the world. A number of countries and regions have started deploying new metering systems; and many others have set targets for deployment or are undertaking trials. Across the board advances in technology and international experience characterize the metering landscape as a fast-changing one. These changes are taking place at a time when increasing emphasis is being placed on the role of the demand-side in improving the efficiency of energy markets, enhancing security of supply and in unlocking the benefits of energy and carbon savings. Innovative forms of metering can be a useful tool in achieving an active demand-side and moving beyond a supply-focused sector. In this paper we focus in particular on smart metering in liberalized electricity markets. We firstly set the context for innovative electricity metering in terms of policy, the role and market structure for metering, and the potential for smart metering to increase demand-side participation. We then provide an overview of new metering technologies by examining international trends, the various components of smart metering systems, and the likely future developments. Next we assess the economics of smart meters focusing on the costs and benefits of smart metering and the distribution of these. We review the evidence in Europe, North America and Australia; we look at how countries and regions have differed in their approaches and how these differences have had an impact on policy making. We conclude by outlining the main challenges that remain, particularly in technology choice and its regulation, the methodology of analyzing costs and benefits and the role of uncertainty in investment and policy making.

UK Renewable Energy Policy Since Privatisation

The aim of this paper is to look at the UK’s renewable energy policy in the context of its overall decarbonisation and energy policies. This will allow us to explore the precise nature of the ‘failure’ of UK renewables policy and to suggest policy changes which might be appropriate in light of the UK’s institutional and resource endowments. Our focus is on the electricity sector both in terms of renewable generation and to a lesser extent the facilitating role of electricity distribution and transmission networks. We will suggest that the precise nature of the failure of UK policy is rather more to do with societal preferences and the available mechanisms for encouraging social acceptability than it is to do with financial support mechanisms. Radical changes to current policy are required, but they must be careful to be institutionally appropriate to the UK. What we suggest is that current policies exhibit an unnecessarily low benefit to cost ratio, and that new policies for renewable deployment must pay close attention to cost effectiveness.