International Comparisons of Electricity Regulation

This book offers a comprehensive characterization of the historical, institutional and economic forces affecting electricity regulation.

Richard J. Gilbert (Edited by), Edward P. Kahn (Edited by)

9780521030779, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 January 2007

516 pages, 40 b/w illus. 1 map 109 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 3.1 cm, 0.77 kg

"Rnternational Comparisons is a useful resource for the researcher or teacher with an interest in public utilities." Stephen H. Karlson, Journal of Comparative Economics

This book offers a most comprehensive characterization of the historical, institutional and economic forces affecting electricity regulation. Eminent economists organized by the University of California Energy Institute survey the USA, UK, Scandinavia, Latin America, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Yugoslavia. Recent experiments with privatization, competition and restructuring in electricity are contrasted with instances where government ownership and traditional vertical integration still dominate. The introductory essay by Richard J. Gilbert, Edward P. Kahn and David Newbery synthesizes individual country studies. In any regulatory system, the government must bargain with investors and consumers to satisfy conflicting interests. The opacity of information about cost constrains this process. Governments also impose multiple political and economic objectives on the electricity industry, which further obscures cost conditions. Privatization and deregulation tend to reverse these effects. Few countries, however, have managed to sustain private ownership in the long run.

Preface
1. Introduction: international comparisons of electricity regulation Richard J. Gilbert, Edward P. Kahn and David M. Newbery
2. Regulation, public ownership and privatisation of the English electricity industry David M. Newbery and Richard Green
3. How should it be done? Electricity regulation in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile Pablo T. Spiller and Luis Viana Martorell
4. From club-regulation to market competition in the Scandinavian electricity supply industry Lennart Hjalmarsson
5. Competition and institutional change in the US electric power regulation Richard J. Gilbert and Edward P. Kahn
6. The Japanese electric utility industry Peter Navarro
7. Regulation of the market for electricity in the Federal Republic of Germany Jürgen Müller and Konrad Stahl
8. The evolution of New Zealand's electricity supply structure J. G. Culy, E. G. Read and B. D. Wright
9. Regulation of electric power in Canada Leonard Waverman and Adonis Yatchew
10. The French electricity industry Jean-Jacques Laffont
11. The Yugoslav electric power industry Srboljub Antic
Index.

Subject Areas: Electrical power industries [KNBL]