4 research outputs found
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Deregulation-restructuring: Evidence for individual industries
Several studies have measured the effects of regulation on a particular industry. These studies range widely in sophistication, from simple observation (comparison) of pre-transformation and post-transformation actual industry performance to econometric analysis that attempt to separate the effects of deregulation from other factors in explaining changes in an industry`s performance. The major problem with observation studies is that they are unable to measure the effect of one particular event, such as deregulation, on an industry`s performance. For example, at the same time that the United Kingdom privatized its electric power industry, it also radically restructured the industry to encourage competition and instituted a price-cap mechanism to regulate the prices of transmission, distribution, and bundled retail services. Subsequent to these changes in 1991, real prices for most UK electricity customers have fallen. It is not certain however, which of these factors was most important or even contributed to the decline in price. In any event, one must be cautious in interpreting the results of studies that attempt to measure the effect of deregulation per se for a specific industry. This report highlights major outcomes for five industries undergoing deregulation or major regulatory and restructuring reforms. These include the natural gas, transportation, UK electric power, financial, and telecommunications industries. Particular attention was given to the historical development of events in the telecommunications industry
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Research report: Summary of key state issues of FERC orders 888 and 889
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission`s (FERC) Order 888 is perhaps the most important and far reaching FERC electricity order in decades. The consequences on the structure of the industry and how the industry is regulated are significant departures from past methods and regulatory philosophy. This will undoubtedly have a dramatic impact on the manner in which state public utility commissions, which are also undergoing or considering dramatic change, regulate their jurisdictional electric utilities. This report summarizes and discusses the actions that the FERC is taking and their profound repercussions on the industry and state commissions. The report is not a comprehensive summary of the entire order. Rather, it is intended to highlight the order`s more important features and discuss what this could mean for the states. The report is organized into eight sections; the first seven address Order 888 and the last section (section 8) addresses Order 889. Section 1 through 5 summarize and discuss the main features of Order 888. Section 6 (on jurisdiction) and Section 7 (on property rights) interpret the likely consequences of the order. Section 8, summarizes the FERC`s Open Access Same Time System (OASIS) and discusses some concerns about its real-world application
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Determining the structure of an optimal personnel profile for a transformed commission
In the classic sociological sense, an organization such as a public utility commission is a social unit consisting of specific groupings constructed and reconstructed deliberately and with forethought to achieve specific goals. These organizational groupings determined on the basis of rational divisions of labor, power, and communication are designed with the objective of placing individuals into positions where they are expected to make the largest contribution towards achieving the organization`s goals. It is reasonable then to conclude that proponents of the classical view had in mind a readily identifiable common ground among the organization`s members that the organization exploits as it selects its goals. Recently, it has been argued that metaphors are an acceptable shorthand for this common ground that provides an insight into the types of personnel an organization would find most suitable for assisting its efforts to reach its goals. This report is one of a series of reports on the transformation of public utility commissions. Previous reports in the series have focused on the transformation of a commission`s culture, roles, and activities. This report focuses on the staffing dimension of the personnel mix needed to support these changes
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Post-reform continuation of social goals
Public utility regulators are currently wrestling with the issue of how and to what extent the social goals that have grown up around traditional regulation might be continued in a restructured electric power industry. This report critically examines six mechanisms that could be used for this purpose in the wake of the introduction of competition in the generation segment. Their pros and cons are thoroughly appraised in economic terms