IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v41y2020i1_supplp67-92.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conditional Yardstick Competition in Energy Regulation

Author

Listed:
  • Timo Kuosmanen
  • Andrew L. Johnson

Abstract

Yardstick competition is a regulation regime that forces local monopolies to compete against a variable cost or total cost benchmark. The variable cost benchmark ignores the fixed capital, creating a strong incentive to over-invest, whereas the total cost benchmark assumes all costs to be variable, ignoring the investment risk. We propose theoretical, methodological, and operational advances to increase applicability of yardstick competition in energy regulation. In the proposed conditional yardstick regime capital is treated as a fixed input, and the local monopolies compete against the variable cost conditional on the fixed input. We develop a benchmarking method that can handle multiple outputs, heterogeneity, and shape constraints to ensure incentive compatibility. We discuss the real-world application of the proposed regime to the Finnish electricity distribution firms in 2016-2023. We argue that smarter regulation of network industries can contribute to lower risk premiums and help to achieve win-win solutions both in terms of reliability and affordability.

Suggested Citation

  • Timo Kuosmanen & Andrew L. Johnson, 2020. "Conditional Yardstick Competition in Energy Regulation," The Energy Journal, , vol. 41(1_suppl), pages 67-92, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:41:y:2020:i:1_suppl:p:67-92
    DOI: 10.5547/01956574.41.SI1.tkuo
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/01956574.41.SI1.tkuo
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/01956574.41.SI1.tkuo?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oseni, Musiliu O. & Pollitt, Michael G., 2016. "The promotion of regional integration of electricity markets: Lessons for developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 628-638.
    2. Mark Armstrong & Simon Cowan & John Vickers, 1994. "Regulatory Reform: Economic Analysis and British Experience," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262510790, April.
    3. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Timo Kuosmanen & Sheng Dai, 2023. "Modeling economies of scope in joint production: Convex regression of input distance function," Papers 2311.11637, arXiv.org.
    2. Asantewaa, Adwoa & Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel, 2023. "Electricity sector reforms and cost efficiency: The case of small electricity systems in Sub-Sahara Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 880-893.
    3. Asantewaa, Adwoa & Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel, 2022. "Reforming Small Electricity Systems: Market Design and Competition," Working Papers 12-2022, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    4. Zhiqiang Liao, 2024. "Variable selection in convex nonparametric least squares via structured Lasso: An application to the Swedish electricity market," Papers 2409.01911, arXiv.org.
    5. Liao, Zhiqiang & Dai, Sheng & Kuosmanen, Timo, 2024. "Convex support vector regression," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 313(3), pages 858-870.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Amy Finkelstein, 2008. "Input and Technology Choices in Regulated Industries: Evidence from the Health Care Sector," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 837-880, October.
    2. Martín Rossi, 2015. "Using Labor Productivity Change Estimates as an Input for X-Factors in Price-Cap Regulation," Working Papers 118, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Feb 2015.
    3. Massey, Patrick, 2004. "Is Irish Utility Regulation Failing Consumers?," Quarterly Economic Commentary: Special Articles, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), vol. 2004(4-Winter), pages 1-18.
    4. Klein, Michael, 1998. "Bidding for concessions," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1957, The World Bank.
    5. Levine, Paul & Rickman, Neil, 2002. "Price Regulation, Investment and the Commitment Problem," CEPR Discussion Papers 3200, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Makoto TANAKA, 2005. "Optimal Transmission Capacity under Nodal Pricing and Incentive Regulation for Transco," Discussion papers 05021, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    7. Faure-Grimaud, Antoine & Reiche, Sönje Kerrin, 2003. "Dynamic Yardstick Regulation," CEPR Discussion Papers 4035, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Newbery, David & Affuso, Luisa, 2000. "Investment, Reprocurement and Franchise Contract Length in the British Railway Industry," CEPR Discussion Papers 2619, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Nepal, Rabindra & Jamasb, Tooraj, 2015. "Incentive regulation and utility benchmarking for electricity network security," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 117-127.
    10. Kemp, Alexander G. & Phimister, Euan, 2010. "Economic Principles and Determination of Infrastructure Third Party Tariffs in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS)," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-115, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    11. Alessandro Petretto, 2009. "On the Impact of Productive Efficiency and Quality of a Regulated Local Public Utility Upon Final Goods Prices and Consumer's Welfare," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 68(3), pages 311-339, July.
    12. Joanne Evans & Paul Levine & Neil Rickman & Francesc Trillas, 2011. "Delegation to Independent Regulators and the Ratchet Effect," School of Economics Discussion Papers 0911, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
    13. Tangeras, Thomas P., 2002. "Collusion-proof yardstick competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 231-254, February.
    14. T. Jamasb & R. Nepal, 2015. "Issues and Options in the Economic Regulation of European Network Security," Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, Intersentia, vol. 16(1), pages 2-23, March.
    15. Eduardo Saavedra, "undated". "Alternative Institutional Arrangements in Network Utilities: An Incomplete Contracting Approach," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv116, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    16. Antonio Estache & Liam Wren-Lewis, 2009. "Toward a Theory of Regulation for Developing Countries: Following Jean-Jacques Laffont's Lead," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(3), pages 729-770, September.
    17. Eduardo Saavedra, "undated". "Renegotiating Incomplete Contracts: Over and Under Investment of Concessioned Public Infrastructure," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv106, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    18. Paula Sarmento & António Brandão, 2007. "Entry Deterrence and Entry Accommodation Strategies of a Multiproduct Firm Regulated with Dynamic Price Cap," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 13(1), pages 19-34, February.
    19. Estache, Antonio & Rossi, Martin, 2004. "Have consumers benefited from the reforms in the electricity distribution sector in Latin America?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3420, The World Bank.
    20. Peter Forsyth, 2000. "Microeconomic Policies and Structural Change," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: David Gruen & Sona Shrestha (ed.),The Australian Economy in the 1990s, Reserve Bank of Australia.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Electricity distribution; Heterogeneity; Incentive regulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F0 - International Economics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:41:y:2020:i:1_suppl:p:67-92. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.