This paper analyses price structures in the liberalized German market for long-distance telecommunications services. Theoretically deduced patterns are backed-up by empirical observations. The market is exceptionally competitive; entry is taking place on a large scale and prices are falling...

Abstract EU power market design has been focused on facilitating trading between countries and for this has defined interfaces for market participants and TSOs between countries. The operation of power systems and markets within countries was not the focus of these developments. This may have...

In response to the global climate challenge many countries are faced with increasing shares of energy from renewable sources in their power supply. The integration of RES (renewable energy sources) generation however entails technical as well as institutional challenges for power grids. This...

The German energy transition massively alters the market structure of electricity supply and forces incumbent electric utilities to rethink their business strategies. We analyze three main developments that undermine the former market dominance of the 'Big 4' incumbents in Germany. First,...

An important goal of the European Commission is the promotion of the internal energy market (here specifically electricity), which requires sufficient and adequate cross-border interconnector capacity. However, cross-border interconnector capacity is scarce and, more importantly, the progress of...

A high penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) connected to the distribution network due to Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) brought many challenges for DSOs. With the responsibility to connect, DSOs may be required to make investment in the network. In order to connect distributed generation (DG)...

The study's recommendations describe institutional elements in the context of electric power sector regulation and has the objective to increase the understanding of the interdependencies of the institutional elements. In future work, the study results might be employed for designing very...

The factor X in the RPI-X regulation aims to adjust price or revenue allowances to changes in total factor productivity and input prices. A cost Malmquist index can be applied to determine the efficient cost change (ECC). However, regulators typically do not have the necessary data on input...

Germany is struggling to meet its 2020 greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and climate goals. Against this background, we analyze the current draft National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) that sets out how Germany aims to achieve its national and European climate goals by 2030. We introduce the...

This paper shows with a formal model that under monopoly regulation, OPEX-risk can be a source for a CAPEX-bias. If OPEX and CAPEX are substitutes, the regulated firm can reduce the risk of the firm and thereby reduce the true cost of capital by rebalancing OPEX and CAPEX. If the allowed...