The Restructuring and Privatisation of Electricity Distribution and Supply Businesses in England and Wales: A Social Cost Benefit Analysis

In December 1990, the twelve regional electricity companies responsible for the distribution and supply of electricity in England and Wales were privatised. For the first few years following privatisation, real prices, profits and costs in the industry rose. Following two price control reviews, prices have now fallen sharply and there have been substantial reductions in costs and, more recently, in profits. This paper attempts to conduct a social cost benefit analysis of the privatisation by examining actual and predicted falls in costs over the period to 2005. The authors conclude that the privatisation did yield net benefits but that these were unevenly distributed across time and groups in society. Relative to our preferred counterfactual, the gains to consumers are equivalent to 3% lower prices, and the government gains £5bn in sales proceeds and net taxes. However, consumers only begin to gain from 2000.Cost benefit analysis, Electricity, Productivity, Privatisation, Restructuring

Modelling the costs of electricity: evidence of human resource constraints in developing countires

Successful electricity industry reform depends on the presence of an appropriately staffed regulatory agency for the liberalised sector. However developing countries can have resource constraints that make the establishment of an effective regulatory agency difficult. This paper attempts an econometric modelling of staff numbers in electricity regulatory institutions.We specify a model of the determits of staff numbers that reflects electricity systems complexity as well as national economic and regulatory environments. We empirically estimate a translog cost function specification of the model using data on 60 electricity regulators collected from an international questionnaire survey in 200001. We conclude that there are significant difference between the regulatory cost functions of developed and developing countries and that, in establishing independent regualtory agencies, developing countries face high fixed costs relative to market size

Modelling the costs of energy regulation: evidence of human resource constraints in developing

Successful electricity industry reform depends on the presence of an appropriate staffed regulatory agency for the liberalised sector. However developing countries can have resource constraints that make the establishment of an effective regulatory agency difficult. This paper attempts an econometric modelling of staff numbers in electricity regulatory institutions. We specify a model of the determits of staff numbers that reflects electricity systems complexity as well as national economic and regulatory environments. We empirically estimate a translog cost function specification of the model using data on 60 electricity regulators collected from an international questionnaire survey in 200001. We conclude that there are significant differences between the regulatory cost functions of developed and developing countries and that, in establishing independent regulatory agencies, developing countries face high fixed costs relative to market size

The restructuring and privatisation of electricity distribution and supply businesses in England and Wales A social cost benefit analysis

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Lymphoepithelial Cyst of Parotid in an Immunocompetent Patient with Chronic Otitis Media

Lymphoepithelial cysts of parotid are known to occur in HIV patients. In the present report, lymphoepithelial cyst of parotid was diagnosed in a middle aged immunocompetent patient, along with chronic otitis media. The source of infection and treatment options are summarized

Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) in sporadic diarrhea in Delhi

Rectal swab/stool specimens of 104 children with diarrhea and 31 healthy controls were processed by routine bacteriological methods. Escherichia coli was grown as predominant flora on primary culture in 32 patients and 7 controls. Three representative colonies from each of these were selected at random and tested for invasive character by their ability to produce keratoconjunctivitis in guinea-pig eye and invasion of HeLa cells. Isolates from only 2 patients and none of the controls were found to be invasive. Enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC) appear to be a relatively uncommon cause of sporadic diarrhea among children in this region

Prevalence of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in cases of diarrhea among preschool children in Delhi

This article does not have an Abstract

Distributional Effects of Price Reforms in the Italian Utility Markets

In this paper, we analyse some distributional effects of the reforms to water and energy services in Italy. We first document the new regulation setting in these services, illustrating the dynamics of utility prices and of household expenditure in the period 1998-2005. We then propose a way to measure the affordability of public utilities, in order to investigate how many households would incur a potentially excessive burden if they consumed a minimum quantity of utility services. Finally, we calculate this index on data from the Survey on Family Budgets ("Indagine sui consumi delle famiglie"). Our results show how the affordability of utility bills varies from region to region depending on climate, income, family endowment and family size. The analysis - also based on a counterfactual exercise - finds that so far, utility reforms do not seem to have produced any negative effects on weaker households. Copyright (c) 2008 The Authors.