Since the 1990s, efficiency and benchmarking analysis has increasingly been used in network utilities research and regulation. A recurrent concern is the effect of environmental factors that are beyond the influence of firms (observable heterogeneity) and factors that are not identifiable...

In this study, we address a major problem in the measurement of firm performance and the regulation of natural monopolies, namely the intertemporal character of long-term investment decisions. In specific, we focus on the impact of adjustment costs of investments on estimates of firms' technical...

Supervised dimension reduction methods have been extensively applied in different scientific fields like biology and medicine in recent years. However, they have hardly ever been used in micro economics, and in particular cost function modeling. Nonetheless, these methods can also be useful in...

Congestion management schemes have taken a prominent place in current electricity market design discussions. In this paper, the implications of establishing zonal pricing in Europe are analyzed with regard to potential zonal delimitations and associated effects on total system costs. Thereby, a...

Several countries around the world have introduced reforms to the electric power sector. One important element of these reforms is the introduction of an unbundling process, i.e., the separation of the competitive activities of supply and production from the monopole activity of transmission and...

Ziel dieses Papers ist es, im Hinblick auf die in Deutschland geplante Einfuehrung eines Qualitaetsanreizsystems bei Elektrizitaetsnetzbetreibern, eine geeignete Methode fuer die hierfuer notwendige Bewertung der Netzzuverlaessigkeit - gleichbedeutend mit den wohlfahrtswirksamen...

Liberalized electricity markets are characterized by fluctuating price-inelastic demand of non-storable electricity, often defined by a substantial market share held by one or few incumbent firms. These characteristics have led to a controversial discussion concerning the need for and the design...

Liberalization of network industries frequently separates the network from the other parts of the industry. This is important in particular for the electricity industry where private firms invest into generation facilities, while net- work investments usually are controlled by regulators. We...

The uprising and military confrontation in Libya that began in February 2011 has led to disruptions of gas supplies to Europe. An analysis of how Europe has compensated for these missing gas volumes shows that this situation has not affected security of supply. <p> However, this situation would...</p>

In the aftermath of the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, German nuclear policy has been reconsidered. This paper demonstrates the economic effects of an accelerated nuclear phase-out on the German electricity generation sector. <p> A detailed optimization model for European electricity markets is...</p>