The degree of liberalization in OECD electricity markets varies considerably across countries. Commonly explained by diverging economic performances, corruption levels or government ideologies, this paper suggest another potential reason for cross-national differences in market reforms: given...

Independent regulatory authorities are a basic prerequisite for a successful liberalization process. However, contrary to what is expected, both graphical analyses and OLS regressions for a small sample of electricity and gas regulators operating in 16 European countries reveal a negative...

Adequate extension of electricity transmission networks is required for integrating fluctuating renewable energy sources, such as wind power, into electricity systems. We study the performance of different regulatory approaches for network expansion in the context of realistic demand patterns...

A shift from zonal to nodal pricing improves the efficiency of system operation. However, resulting price changes also shift surplus across generation and loads at different locations. As individual actors can lose, they might oppose any reform. We explore how allocation of financial...

Die EU-Osterweiterung am 1. Mai 2004 hat den europäischen Binnenmarkt wieder ein Stück vergrößert. Besonders im Elektrizitätsmarkt gab es Stimmen, die das Damokles-Schwert des billigen Atomstroms aus Osteuropa über der früheren EU-15 schweben sahen. Dies hat sich als unbegründet...

Electricity systems are increasingly characterized by distributed generation technologies, e.g. rooftop photovoltaic systems, which are used by end consumers to directly produce electricity. Additionally, empirical evidence suggests that electricity retailers exercise market power in many...