Services of general interest (SGI) are a key component of the EU economy, accounting for 26% of GDP and 30% of employment within the EU. They cover economic and noneconomic activities alike. They are to be distinguished from services of general economic interest (SGEI), which are economic...

Electricity markets depend on upstream energy markets to supply the fuels needed for generation. Since these markets rely on networks, congestion in one can quickly produce changes in another. In this paper we develop a combined partial equilibrium market model which includes the interactions of...

We analyze the evaluations of California energy-efficiency programs to assess the effectiveness of these evaluations in: 1) improving our understanding of their performance and 2) providing a check on utility incentives to overstate energy savings. We find that third-party evaluations are useful...

Three decade ago, federal policymakers - Republicans and Democrats - embarked on a general strategy of deregulation in the electricity, gas delivery, and telecommunications industries. The strategy called for restructuring to separate production from the transmission and distribution, followed...

Through the end of the twentieth century, the most critical regulatory issue facing electric utilities was stranded costs, which can be defined as those costs that the utilities were permitted to recover through their rates but whose recovery may have been impeded or prevented by the advent of...

Urban water conservation is typically achieved through prescriptive regulations, including the rationing of water for particular uses and requirements for the installation of particular technologies. A significant shift has occurred in pollution control regulations toward market-based policies...

In most developed countries, the provision of water is organized at a local level. The costs and tariffs vary significantly, even between adjacent water utilities. Such heterogeneity is an obvious indication of the sectors overall inefficiency and stresses a need for institutional adjustments....

Building on a model of the interaction of risk-averse frms that compete in forward and spot markets, we develop an empirical strategy to test whether oligopolistic frms use forward contracts for strategic motives, for risk-hedging, or for both. An increase in the number of players weakens the...

We study the impact of the liberalization of EU natural gas markets on the balance of power between `local champions', customers, and outside producers. We distinguish between two steps of the reform: 1. opening access to transit pipes and 2. opening access to distribution systems, hence...

The purpose of this paper is the comparative analysis of four natural gas storage valuation approaches. In competitive natural gas markets the optimal valuation and operation of natural gas storages is a key task for natural gas companies operating storages. Within this paper, four spot based...