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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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    Cited by:

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    3. Rinaldo Brau & Raffaele Doronzo & Carlo V. Fiorio & Massimo Florio, 2010. "EU Gas Industry Reforms and Consumers' Prices," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 167-182.
    4. Nyathikala, Sai Amulya & Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel & Kulshrestha, Mukul, 2023. "Utility governance, incentives, and performance: Evidence from India's urban water sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Managi, Shunsuke, 2009. "Productivity assessment of Angola's oil blocks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2009-2015.
    6. Ajayi, V. & Pollitt, M., 2022. "Changing times: Incentive regulation, corporate reorganisations, and productivity in the Great Britain’s gas networks," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2254, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    7. Fang, Hong & Wu, Junjie & Zeng, Catherine, 2009. "Comparative study on efficiency performance of listed coal mining companies in China and the US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5140-5148, December.
    8. Sebastian Klaudiusz Tomczak & Anna Skowrońska-Szmer & Jan Jakub Szczygielski, 2021. "Is It Possible to Make Money on Investing in Companies Manufacturing Solar Components? A Panel Data Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, June.
    9. Victor Ajayi & Michael G. Pollitt, 2022. "Changing times: Incentive regulation, corporate reorganisations, and productivity in Great Britain’s gas networks," Working Papers EPRG2214, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    10. Dana PANCUROVA & Stefan LYOCSA, 2013. "Determinants of Commercial Banks’ Efficiency: Evidence from 11 CEE Countries," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 63(2), pages 152-179, May.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. 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).
    16. 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.
    17. Haney, Aoife Brophy & Pollitt, Michael G., 2013. "International benchmarking of electricity transmission by regulators: A contrast between theory and practice?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 267-281.
    18. Corrado Lo Storto, 2018. "A Nonparametric Economic Analysis of the US Natural Gas Transmission Infrastructure: Efficiency, Trade-Offs and Emerging Industry Configurations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, February.
    19. Sebastian Klaudiusz Tomczak, 2019. "Comparison of the Financial Standing of Companies Generating Electricity from Renewable Sources and Fossil Fuels: A New Hybrid Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-20, October.
    20. 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.
    21. 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.
    22. 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.
    23. 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.
    24. 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.

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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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