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A New Perspective: Investment and Efficiency under Incentive Regulation

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  • Rahmatallah Poudineh and Tooraj Jamasb

Abstract

Following the liberalisation of the electricity industry since the early 1990s, many sector regulators have adopted incentive regulation aided by benchmarking and productivity analysis. This approach has often resulted in efficiency and quality of service improvement. However, there remains a growing concern as to whether the utilities invest sufficiently and efficiently in maintaining and modernising their networks. This paper studies the relationship between investments and cost efficiency in the context of incentive regulation with ex-post regulatory treatment of investments using a panel dataset of 129 Norwegian distribution companies from 2004 to 2010. We introduce the concept of "no impact efficiency" as a revenue-neutral efficiency effect of investment under incentive regulation that makes a firm "investment efficient" in cost benchmarking. Also, we estimate the observed efficiency effect of investments and compare these with the no impact efficiency. Finally, we discuss the implications of cost benchmarking for investment behaviour of network companies.

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  • Rahmatallah Poudineh and Tooraj Jamasb, 2015. "A New Perspective: Investment and Efficiency under Incentive Regulation," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    • Handle: RePEc:aen:journl:ej36-4-poudineh
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gert Brunekreeft & Roland Meyer, 2015. "Anreizregulierung bei Stromverteilnetzen: Effizienz versus Investitionen," Bremen Energy Working Papers 0021, Bremen Energy Research.
    3. Sarangi, Gopal K. & Pradhan, Abhilas Kumar & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2021. "Performance assessment of state-owned electricity distribution utilities in India," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 516-531.
    4. Mirza, Faisal Mehmood & Mushtaq, Iqra & Ullah, Kafait, 2017. "Assessing the efficiency dynamics of post reforms electric distribution utilities in Pakistan," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 18-28.
    5. Ribeiro, Beatriz Couto & Ferrero, Luciane Graziele Pereira & Bin, Adriana & Blind, Knut, 2023. "Effects of innovation stimuli regulation in the electricity sector: A quantitative study on European countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    6. Llorca, Manuel & Orea, Luis & Pollitt, Michael G., 2016. "Efficiency and environmental factors in the US electricity transmission industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 234-246.
    7. Wenche Tobiasson & Manuel Llorca & Tooraj Jamasb, 2021. "Performance Effects of Network Structure and Ownership: The Norwegian Electricity Distribution Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-15, November.
    8. Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel & Meeus, Leonardo & Schittekatte, Tim, 2020. "Energy Network Innovation for Green Transition: Economic Issues and Regulatory Options," Working Papers 18-2020, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    9. Brunekreeft Gert & Meyer Roland, 2016. "Anreizregulierung bei Stromverteilnetzen: Effizienz versus Investitionen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 172-187, July.

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