In March 2014, the OECD issued a report in which it indicated that the Netherlands “has an excellent track record on water management in several areas” The OECD mentions for example that the Netherlands has developed a “strong economy and robust water industry”, this despite that 55% of...

This article contains an examination of the exemption from paying transport charges for producers, under European Union sector specific regulation and the European Union state aid rules. In the Netherlands and several other EU Member States, the energy authorities have decided that producers of...

This paper discusses how the position of independent administrative agencies, with broad regulatory powers, can be reconciled with the US Constitution and how the legitimacy of their regulatory actions can be ensured. The experiences with the problems of legitimacy of US administrative agencies...

The electricity sector is in a transition towards a Smart Energy System where the roles of private and institutional actors are evolving. This work deals with the influence of some technological innovations on the regulation of the energy sector. It identifies the main radical innovations in the...

National regulatory authorities (NRAs) play a key role in supervising and regulating competition in the energy markets and for realizing the transition to a low carbon energy system in the European Energy Union. They have to ensure that energy (service) markets can develop and that consumers can...

This paper draws on the case law of the European Court of Justice to examine the current (im)possibilities of dealing with the supervision and regulation of the competition in the wholesale energy markets within the three different European regulatory frameworks, namely the Third Energy Package,...

The energy system of the future is smart and sustainable, with IT applications making it possible to efficiently match supply of and demand for sustainable energy. It will turn consumers into active players, responding to financial incentives to either or not use energy at specific moments, or...

Distribution of electricity constitutes an essential link in the energy sector value chain for which Distribution System Operators (DSOs) bear the responsibility. While executing that role, DSOs are expected to take into consideration public values, such as the availability, affordability and...