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Productivity and Efficiency of US Gas Transmission Companies: A European Regulatory Perspective

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  • Tooraj Jamasb
  • Michael Pollitt
  • Thomas Triebs

Abstract

On both sides of the Atlantic the regulation of gas transmission networks has undergone major changes since the early 1990’s. Whereas in the US the long-standing regime of cost-plus regulation was complemented by increasing pipe-to-pipe competition, most European countries moved towards incentive regulation complemented by market integration. We study the impact of US regulatory reform using a Malmquist-based productivity analysis for a panel of US interstate companies. Results are presented for changes in productivity, as well as for several convergence tests. The results indicate that taking productivity and convergence as performance indicators, regulation has been rather successful, in particular during a period where overall demand was flat. Lessons for European regulators are twofold. First, the US analysis shows that benchmarking of European transmission operators would be possible if data were available. Second, our results suggest that, in the long-run, market integration and competition are alternatives to the current European model.
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  • Tooraj Jamasb & Michael Pollitt & Thomas Triebs, 2008. "Productivity and Efficiency of US Gas Transmission Companies: A European Regulatory Perspective," Working Papers EPRG 0806, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:enp:wpaper:eprg0806
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    13. Capece, Guendalina & Cricelli, Livio & Di Pillo, Francesca & Levialdi, Nathan, 2012. "New regulatory policies in Italy: Impact on financial results, on liquidity and profitability of natural gas retail companies," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 90-98.
    14. Steven Brakman & Charles van Marrewijk & Arjen van Witteloostuijn & Charles van Marrewijk, 2009. "Market Liberalization in the European Natural Gas Market - The Importance of Capacity Constraints and Efficiency Differences," CESifo Working Paper Series 2697, CESifo.
    15. Afsharian, Mohsen & Kamali, Sara & Ahn, Heinz & Bogetoft, Peter, 2024. "Individualized second stage corrections in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 317(2), pages 563-577.
    16. Horta, Isabel M. & Camanho, Ana S., 2015. "A nonparametric methodology for evaluating convergence in a multi-input multi-output setting," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 246(2), pages 554-561.
    17. Doumpos, Michalis & Andriosopoulos, Kostas & Galariotis, Emilios & Makridou, Georgia & Zopounidis, Constantin, 2017. "Corporate failure prediction in the European energy sector: A multicriteria approach and the effect of country characteristics," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 262(1), pages 347-360.
    18. Biswaranjita Mahapatra & Chandan Bhar & Sandeep Mondal, 2020. "Performance Assessment Based on the Relative Efficiency of Indian Opencast Coal Mines Using Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Productivity Index," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-21, September.
    19. M. Florio & Rinaldo Brau & R. Doronzo, 2008. "Gas industry reforms and consumers' prices in the European Union," Working Paper CRENoS 200816, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    20. Waidelich, Paul & Haug, Tomas & Wieshammer, Lorenz, 2022. "German efficiency gone wrong: Unintended incentives arising from the gas TSOs’ benchmarking," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    21. Cardinale, Roberto, 2019. "The profitability of transnational energy infrastructure: A comparative analysis of the Greenstream and Galsi gas pipelines," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 347-357.
    22. Capece, Guendalina & Cricelli, Livio & Di Pillo, Francesca & Levialdi, Nathan, 2010. "A cluster analysis study based on profitability and financial indicators in the Italian gas retail market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3394-3402, July.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Natural gas transmission; utility regulation; data envelopment analysis; total factor productivity; convergence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

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