This paper updates the literature on water utility benchmarking studies developed worldwide, focusing on scale and scope economies. Using meta-regression analysis, the study investigates which variables from published studies influence these economies. Our analysis yields several conclusions....

This study provides an analysis of Italian water utilities to determine the effects on their efficiency of certain relevant variables that have been broadly discussed in the existing literature. We reviewed the annual financial statements of 43 Italian water utility companies and obtained other...

Providing operators with objective incentives for cost efficiency and continuous improvement in the provision of public services are major concerns for regulators. Measuring efficiency empirically is complex and this complexity is accentuated when the same operator is responsible for delivering...

Ontario’s electric distribution utilities began the 1990s with a stellar record of reliability that rivalled that of any advanced economy. While individual network reliability varied, the system customer-weighted average was exemplary and remained stable over the decade. These networks were...

This paper considers the continued relevance of competition for utility regulation, especially in the context of Britain. It does so in three steps. First, it considers the context in which RPI-X entered the policy debate and became a central aspect of subsequent utility reforms. Second, it...

Developing and transitional economies have adopted and implemented “RPI-X” or “incentive based regulation” over the past few decades, building on the reforms in the UK and elsewhere. However, for incentive based regulation to deliver the desired outcomes it needs to be implemented in a...

This paper considers the evolution of the British model of independent utility regulation from the publication of the 1983 Littlechild Report on telecom regulation. Over the last ten years, the model has faced some threats to its pro-competition emphasis, notably in energy regulation and...

This paper provides a perspective from two economic regulators on the way in which economic regulation in the UK has developed over time. Regulation has delivered great benefits, but its development has been at odds with expectations at the time of privatisation. In particular, effective...

This article examines the impact the UK regulatory model has had in developing and transition countries in the three decades since its inception. It presents data linked to three key features of the model, namely independent regulatory institutions; focus on competition; and greater efficiency...

This article considers whether African utility regulators can draw useful lessons from the British experience over the past thirty years. We focus on three features that are considered key properties of the British regulatory model: price-cap incentive regulation, independent regulatory agencies...