Competition and Regulation in Network Industries

The primary drivers of the creation of infrastructure networks are the benefits that can be achieved through collective action. For example, global and regional networks of regulators enable agencies to obtain inputs and create outputs that would otherwise be unavailable or very expensive. Such organizations act as intermediaries, providing forums for discussions, sharing data for benchmarking, producing public pronouncements, developing materials for stakeholders, providing capacity building for professional staff, and evaluating best practice laws (and procedures) that address institutional and policy issues. This article provides a census of such organizations, with particular emphasis on organizations within Latin America and the Caribbean. Although there is some evidence that these activities influence national regulations through the provision of benchmarking data and adoption of shared principles, quantifying those impacts is difficult. Organizations providing infrastructure services also collaborate within and across nations. These operator and regulatory networks can be across countries, within nations, or mixed in nature. Some are more ministerial in structure, while others were created to strengthen regulatory autonomy. Regulatory networks strengthen the operational capacity of national regulators, provide opportunities for improving staff expertise, promote the theme of greater independence of agencies, and reinforce their legitimacy as agencies that can improve infrastructure performance. Operator networks emerged as organizations for promoting best practice, sharing experiences, and developing strategies for dealing with operational and regulatory challenges. Examples from Latin America and the Caribbean illustrate the growth of networks that provide a wide range of “outputs” for those developing, implementing, and responding to public policy.

Recent Internet-induced declines in mail volumes have put at risk the profitability of Australia’s most enduring government business enterprise, Australia Post. The post office after its reform in the 1970s and 1980s was a strongly performing enterprise. This article observes the long-term performance of the industry since 1901. In particular, the growth in demand, productivity growth, as well as prices, and profits are presented over the longer term.

Big data have become a driver of innovation in multiple sectors, including the management of infrastructures employed for the provision of essential goods and services, such as drinking water. As technology enables new possibilities of action for infrastructure managers, it could be questioned whether the regulations in place still deal adequately with such possibilities or if certain adjustments are necessary, especially considering that infrastructure managers usually operate in highly regulated environments. This study explores the regulatory challenges of introducing smart water meters (SWM) in the Netherlands. In particular, it discusses whether the introduction of SWM will require adjusting the regulations of the sector, to deal with the new possibilities of action enabled by this technology.

The peer-to-peer (P2P) trading of electricity is a recently developed type of transaction in the electricity system. In a P2P electricity trade, two equal market participants, in most cases prosumers, conclude a contract for the trade of electricity. This article provides a review of the legal context of P2P electricity trading, with a focus on European energy law. Furthermore, the article discusses the relation of P2P electricity trading to the phenomenon of the collaborative economy and to parallel technological developments taking place in the electricity system. We conclude that while the current state of European Union energy law might in principle allow P2P electricity trading, the lack of specific provisions is likely to cause issues in practice.

The electricity sector is in transition towards a market where the roles of the operators and institutional actors are changing. The rise in production from renewable energy sources is determining a move from a centrally, fossil-fuel generation to a local distributed one with, among the other things, implications in terms of volatility, intermittency and reserve ‘backup’ capacity. This renewed and challenging scenario represents the basis for the Swiss2Grid pilot project. Its main objective is the development of an innovative approach for the grid load management based on the adoption of an active algorithm (Household Appliance Controller (HAC)) located on individual homes – then decentralized – governed by simple network rules. The goal is to reduce the level of complexity of the system, flattering at the same time the peak load curve. This load optimization is intended also having positive effects in terms of consumers’ bills expenditure. The amount of potential costs reduction of selected consumers, associated with a load shifting by HAC, has been estimated for several price scenario hypothesis, sketched in order to find the price scheme that better fits to the new consumption’s profile. In detail, we tested time constant rates as well as time variable ones, from flat rates to real prices. This project has indeed given us the opportunity to investigate about the use – and the actual advantages – of real-time prices for electricity combined with enabling technologies and on the new roles of utilities and Distribution System Operators (DSOs).

Transition from monopoly to competition-based markets is widely recognized processes around the globe when it comes to achieving efficient electricity and gas trade thus presenting direct benefits to the final energy consumers. But when talking about smaller infrastructures like district heating (DH) market is still viewed as a natural monopoly. This article presents Lithuanian case to open up existing municipal infrastructure to third-party access in order to complete fuel switch in DH generation faster and to increase efficiency of the entire system through competitive pressure. The article presents the set of circumstances in DH sector back in 2010; focuses on regulatory framework, which was developed and introduced through two phases in Lithuania; and formulates impacts of the reorganization of DH sector from vertically integrated monopoly to single buyer model for de-monopolized generation.