ANNOTATED READING LIST FOR A BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

ON INFRASTRUCTURE REGULATION

Developed for The World Bank by:

Mark A. Jamison
Sanford V. Berg
Public Utility Research Center
University of Florida
Revised August 15, 2008

Funding for this project was provided by:

The authors thank Farid Gasmi and Jos I. Tvara, who co-authored the original document with us in 2004, for their
important research and contributions. Special thanks are owed to Rossana Passaniti and Cynthia Stehouwer for their
organizational and editorial work, and to Janice Hauge, Lynne Holt, Mark Hoekstra, Hamilton Silva, Troy Quast,
Juan-Daniel Oviedo,Rich Gentry, and Abhay Dhingra for their research efforts, and Michael Rodriguez for his web
design expertise. In addition, the authors thank the members of the 2008 review committee Martin Rodriguez
Pardina, Rohan Samarajiva, Jorry Mwenechanya, and Pippo Ranci for their advice and recommendations, as well
as the World Bank staff and attendees at the original review meetings at Eynsham Hall and Arlie House for their
helpful suggestions and comments. The authors take responsibility for all errors and omissions.

Overview of Infrastructure Regulation

A.

Introduction

There is a growing consensus that the successful development of infrastructure

electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, water, and transportation depends in no small part
on the adoption of appropriate public policies and the effective implementation of these policies.
Central to these policies is development of a regulatory apparatus that provides stability, protects
consumers from the abuse of market power, guards consumers and operators against political
opportunism, and provides incentives for service providers to operate efficiently and make the
needed investments.
Because the way regulation is implemented plays such a vital role in infrastructure
development and use, most discussions of infrastructure policy focus on how regulation should
be done: for example, how to introduce and facilitate competition, how to provide operators with
incentives for improved performance, and how regulators should involve stakeholders. The
academic literature calls such work normative theories of regulation, but the authors will simply
refer to this as normative work.
Normative work is the primary focus of this Overview and the following chapters. The
primary focus is on normative work because the authors would be in error if they failed to
recognize why regulation occurs. For example, there is always a political context within which a
country chooses to initiate, continue, or change its regulation of infrastructure. The motivations
for regulation affect how regulation occurs and are considered by a second basic school of
thought on regulatory policy, namely, positive theories of regulation.
Positive theories focus on the roles of stakeholders in the policy-making process, the
results of their advocacy of solutions that address their individual interests, and broader
motivations, such as political interests and the public interest. 1
The purpose of this Overview is to provide a broad description of the motivations for
regulation and the issues that regulation addresses. 2 It begins by describing the regulatory
problem, which includes issues of market power, opportunism, and asymmetric information.
Then the basic approaches of regulation for dealing with these issues are described. Market
structure, which examines monopoly power and competition is covered first. Then financial
analysis, which regulators use to ensure financial viability, oversee system development and
expansion, and protect against excessive price levels is covered. Regulating the overall price
1

Section A of the first chapter examines theories of regulation and the rationale for regulation. Section H of this
Overview and Chapter VII that follow specifically examine how regulators can address this political context of
regulation.
2
In this Overview, the authors generally refer to the government when referring to the development of policies,
and to the regulator or agency when referring the implementation of policy. The authors recognize that the
institutional arrangements for developing and performing regulation vary across countries. For example, in some
countries, regulatory agencies take initiative in opening markets to competition, while in other countries all such
work is done within a ministry. However, it is too cumbersome to try to reflect all possible divisions of
responsibilities for regulatory policy in this narrative, so language is simplified here.

level is considered next, followed by issues of rate design. Finally non-price issues, such as
service quality, environmental impacts, and social issues, are reviewed, as is the regulatory
process, including the management of information.
The remainder of this Overview is organized as follows. Section B defines the regulatory
problem from different perspectives and identifies the basic approaches for overcoming the
market power and information issues that tend to underlie many regulatory policies. Section C
describes the first approach, namely the use of competition. Section D summarizes the second
approach, which is the gathering and use of information on markets and operators. Section E
examines the last approach, the use of incentive regulation. The remaining sections examine
related issues. Section F describes issues in tariff design. Section G covers service quality,
environmental, and social issues. Section H examines the regulatory process. Section I provides
concluding observations.

B.

The Regulatory Problem

It seems fair to say that governments establish regulation of utilities to improve sector
performance relative to no regulation. What might be meant by improve sector performance,
however, can be subject to considerable debate. Often improve sector performance means that
the government wants to control market power and/or facilitate competition. It may also mean
that the government wants to address commitment issues; that is to say, the government may
create a regulatory agency to protect operators and customers from politically-driven decisions
that would sacrifice long run efficiency for short term political expediency.
Improve sector performance might also mean that the government has chosen to
regulate in order to favor particular types of customers or to protect operators from competition.
In some countries, for example, regulation has been used to subsidize electricity for farmers. In
the 20th century many counties used regulation to protect monopoly telephone companies from
competition.
Except where otherwise noted, this Overview addresses normative issues of regulation,
with the perspective that regulation, and in particular regulation by a regulatory agency, is
intended to improve welfare. 3 In this context, welfare means the aggregate benefit that
infrastructure services provide, including benefits to consumers, 4 benefits to operators, and
externalities. 5 Externalities are benefits or costs from a transaction that are received or born by
3

Focusing primarily on welfare is not meant to imply that distributional issues in regulation are unimportant.
Distributional issues address how different stakeholder groups are affected differently by how infrastructure services
are provided. Situations where governments use regulation to benefit some groups over other groups have been
already mentioned. Portions of Chapters V, VI, and VII are devoted to distributional issues, namely, assisting the
poor. Welfare is the focus because it is the measure of benefit most often used in research and because policies that
emphasize welfare do not preclude also adopting policies that address distributional issues.
4
Benefits to consumers is generally measured as net consumer surplus, which is the difference between the gross
value that the customer receives when consuming the service (called willingness to pay) and the amount the
customer pays.
5
This Overview does not address the individual weight that the government may give to each element. These
weights are important, but they are set aside here because each regulator can use her or her governments own
weighting system to determine which tools described herein to apply and how to apply them.

third parties who are not part of the transaction. Air pollution produced by electricity generation
or by transportation vehicles is an example of a negative externality.
At this point, it is important to note that some observers make convincing arguments that
policymakers sometimes have more nefarious motives than maximizing welfare, for example, to
gain short term political advantage or to benefit political supporters. Such motives raise the issue
of how citizens can regulate their government and the regulator. Review of this issue is reserved
to Section H of this Overview and to Chapter VII.
From a normative perspective, regulation of a service provider may be desirable if (1) the
welfare objectives of the government are different from the objectives of the operator, (2) the
operator has an information advantage over the government, and (3) the operator has market
power.
To illustrate why regulation may be appropriate when the government and the operator
have different objectives, consider a situation in which the government and the operator each has
a single objective, namely, the government wants service expansion in rural areas and the
operator wants to maximize profit. An unregulated operator with market power would restrict
output to maximize profit and would invest in areas that give the highest profit. It is unlikely that
either of these outcomes would be consistent with the governments objective, so the government
may want to take steps that would make it in the operators best interest to expand service in
rural areas. In the case of a state owned operator, the management may have an objective of
maximizing its political influence. This could lead the management to use its resources to
employ a lot of people or to target investments to politically powerful areas. Neither would likely
be consistent with the goal of expanding service in rural areas.
Now consider a situation where the government and operator have the same objective,
say to offer service of a particular service quality throughout the country at the lowest possible
cost. In this case, the government could simply give the operator whatever relevant information
the government had and let the operator pursue this objective on its own. Regulation would not
be needed in this situation because the government could not improve results by regulating the
operator, that is to say, regulation, if designed to persuade the operator to do what the
government wants the operator to do, would be redundant with the operators own strategic
objectives.
Of course the world is not so simple. Many developing countries have not privatized their
utilities, but have established regulatory agencies with varying degrees of independence. An
important challenge for these regulators is that the state-owned utilities often do not operate on a
commercial basis. 6 The utilities sometimes are torn between the short-term social stability
interest and the long-term viability of the utility enterprise. Therefore there are many
opportunities for conflicts between the utility and the government even if the interests would
appear to coincide. 7

This experience is not unique to developing countries. Studies have found that government-owned utilities in
developed countries do not operate on a commercial basis.
7
The authors are grateful to Jorry Mwenechanya for this insight.

In practice a governments objectives are typically different from an operators

objectives. For example, the government may be primarily concerned with new investments,
service expansion, and low prices. In contrast, a privately owned operator is likely to want to
maximize profit, an objective that, left unchecked, is generally understood to be inconsistent with
widely available services and low prices across the board if the operator has market power.
State-owned operators may want to satisfy key political supporters, maintain high levels of
employment for politically powerful unions, or secure large budgets, which would also be
inconsistent with governments objectives. Because of these differences in objectives,
governments typically adopt instruments to induce operators to achieve the governments
objectives.
To illustrate the importance of the operator having an information advantage a situation
generically referred to as an information asymmetry 8 suppose that the government and the
operator have different objectives and that the government knows just as much as the operator
about customer demand and the operators ability to satisfy customer demand. In this case, the
government could simply micro-manage the operator i.e., tell the operator when to maintain
lines, how many workers to employ, etc. to achieve the governments objectives. This
approach is called command and control regulation, and is in effect complete government
management of the operator. 9
Furthermore, it is also generally the case that there is an information asymmetry between
the government and the operator. Asymmetric information in this context means that the operator
has what economists call private information about its ability to operate efficiently, about
patterns of customer demand, or about the amount of effort that is required for the operator to be
efficient.
There are three basic approaches to dealing with market power and with the asymmetries
described above, namely, (a) subjecting the operator to competitive pressures, (b) gathering
information on the operator and the market, and (c) controlling market power by applying
incentive regulation. 10 In the following sections, each of these approaches and how regulators put
them into practice is reviewed. Regulators typically use some combination of these three
approaches and the proper mix depends on the countrys needs and objectives, institutional
capabilities and arrangements, cost or difficulty of obtaining information, and potential for
competition.

C.

First Approach: Competition 11

It is tautological to say that increasing competitive pressure can diminish problems of

market power. However, competition also addresses the information asymmetry problem in two
8

Information asymmetries are noted in Section I of the first chapter.

This of course cannot happen in practice because information asymmetries exist even for government controlled
enterprises.
10
Information gathering is a critical tool in both of the other options, but it is listed separately because knowledge
and information are valuable in all facets of regulation.
11
Chapter II on Market Structure and Competition covers competitive issues, except for competition between
markets, which is covered in Chapter IV on Regulating the Overall Price Level.
9

ways. The first way is that the operator, in its pursuit of profits, has an incentive to provide
service quality levels and price levels that are best for customers, subject to the operators need
to cover its costs. Competition can provide this result because fully informed customers will buy
only from those operators that provide the most beneficial combinations of quality and price. In
other words, each customer seeks to maximize his net consumer surplus.
Even if the operator in a competitive market is state owned, competition presses the
operator to act as a privately owned operator because the state-owned operator must be
responsive to customers in order to finance its operations. Of course a state-owned service
provider might be able to use its relationship with the government to gain an advantage over
rivals, which would at least in part thwart the discipline of the competitive market. For example,
if a state-owned operator were allowed access to taxpayer-provided monies when cash flows are
unable to support investments, the state-owned operator could have an incentive to make
uneconomic investments that further the operators political goals or reduce competitive
pressures.
The second way that competitive pressure addresses the information asymmetry problem
is that competitive market outcomes reveal actual customer demand, the operators innate ability
to be efficient, and how much effort the operator is willing to exert to be efficient. Even if
competition is weak, competing firms can benefit from using all of the information at their
disposal to succeed in the competitive marketplace.
Competition has additional benefits. It limits a governments ability to use regulation to
favor certain stakeholders or to sacrifice long term efficiency for short term political goals. It
also limits operators abilities to raise prices and creates opportunities for different firms to try
innovative ways to attract customers. 12
Policy makers or regulators subject operators to competitive pressures by liberalizing
markets and facilitating competition. There are three basic approaches. The first approach is to
have multiple operators compete in the market for customers. This is called competition in the
market and examples include having multiple mobile telecommunications service providers and
multiple operators of electricity generation plants. The second method, called competition for the
market, is to have operators compete for the market by having the operators bid for the right to
be a service provider. 13 Franchise bidding to operate a city water system is an example of this
second approach. The third technique is to have operators in different markets compete by
comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations and rewarding those operators that
provide superior performance. Competition in the market is reviewed next, followed by
competition for the market. The third approach, called competition between markets, but also
called benchmarking or yardstick regulation is covered in the section on Incentive Regulation.

12

This is not to imply that competition is without problems. There may be situations where operators compete
aggressively in lowering prices and so do not have adequate cash flows to make needed investments. Competition
has generally been most successful in telecommunications.
13
Operators may also bid for the right to be a service provider in situations of competition in the market. This might
be the case in mobile telephony, for example, where radio spectrum limits the number of possible operators.

1.

Competition in the Market 14

There are several approaches to facilitating competition in the market. When all elements
of the utility service can be competitive, then generally a primary job of the regulator is to
remove barriers to entry or competition. Typical steps include removing licensing restrictions or
large licensing fees, 15 reducing switching costs, and requiring access to essential inputs, such as
telephone numbering resources.
When some elements of the utility service have monopoly characteristics, such as gas
distribution lines, and other elements can be competitive, such as gas production, then regulators
also use tools such as structural separation and unbundling to facilitate competition. Structural
separation separates the potentially competitive portions of the utility service from the noncompetitive portions. For example, electricity generation is generally considered to be potentially
competitive, but electricity distribution is not. 16 These non-competitive, yet essential portions of
the service are called essential facilities. 17 Structural separation prohibits a single operator from
providing both the competitive and non-competitive portion of the service.
The intent of separation is to ensure that the provider of the essential facility does use its
control of the essential facility to hinder competition. Structural separation is sometimes called
unbundling, but some forms of facility or service unbundling may be less severe than structural
separation. With simple unbundling, for example, the regulator may allow a single operator to
combine competitive and non-competitive elements to provide bundled service, but also require
the operator to allow rivals access to the essential facility so that the rivals are not disadvantaged
relative to the operators own competitive service. 18 For example, some regulators require
incumbent fixed line telephone operators to allow rivals to lease local telephone lines, but the
regulators also allow the incumbent operators to continue to offer a retail service that bundles the
local telephone line with usage. Regulators that want to facilitate competition generally take
steps to remove barriers to entry, even if structural separation or unbundling is required.
When structural separation or unbundling do not involve separate ownership, regulators
often require accounting separation or ring fencing to ensure that there is no cross-subsidization
from the non-competitive operations to the competitive operations. Accounting separation is
described in more detail below in the subsection on Financial Analysis and in Chapter III.
Access pricing is an important element of regulatory policies designed to facilitate
competition in the market. When a utility service is unbundled, the rivals often pay the operator
14

Chapter II Section B covers competition in the market.

Large license fees are a barrier to entry when they limit the number of entrants that can profitably enter the
market. When there is another binding constraint on the number of possible competitors, such as a physical limit on
the availability of radio spectrum, then the license fee determined through a competitive process, such as an auction,
serves to determine who enters the market rather than the number of entrants.
16
The experience to date in some countries is that governments have stopped short of selling the unbundled parts,
which raises problems if private operators are asked to compete with a state-owned enterprise.
17
A facility is considered to be an essential facility if it is necessary for the provision of the final product and cannot
be economically produced by rivals to the essential facility provider.
18
Some jurisdictions use the term unbundling to refer to accounting separations, which is the act of separating
accounting costs and revenue between the competitive and non-competitive portions of the enterprise. We use
unbundling to mean the unbundling of services or facilities, not accounts.
15

an access price for use of the non-competitive element of the service. Because this price is a
source of revenue for the incumbent operator the operator that provides both the competitive
and non-competitive portions of the service and a cost for the incumbents rivals, the
incumbent has an incentive to raise this price to a level that limits competition. In cases such as
telecommunications where competitors must interconnect their networks in order to allow
customers of rival networks to communicate, regulators generally require service providers to
negotiate such interconnection arrangements and adopt cost-based prices.

2.

Competition for the Market 19

Competition for the market may be desirable when competition in the market is infeasible
or impractical. In such cases, the right to be the monopoly provider of the service 20 could be
auctioned off through an efficient auction. An efficient auction is one in which (1) the most
efficient firm wins the auction, and (2) the winning operator gives up most of its monopoly
profits. An efficient auction achieves cost efficiency because the most efficient firm is the firm
that can afford to pay the highest price for the right to be the monopoly. In paying this high price,
the successful bidder gives up at least some portion of its monopoly profits, which can be
distributed to customers. In general, monopoly profits are profits above the operators cost of
equity 21 that result from the operator having market power. Post-auction regulation may still be
necessary if prices need to adjust to unanticipated events, but periodic re-bidding may substitute
for typical price regulation in some situations.

D.

Second Approach: Obtaining and Analyzing Information 22

In addition to using competition to overcome asymmetries in information and objectives,

regulators can also decrease information asymmetries by obtaining information on the operator
and markets, typically including financial data and operating statistics. Obtaining the information
is not enough: Regulators need to use the information for decision making. But set information
gathering out separately as a tool because it is critical to all aspects of regulation.
The financial data that regulators require from operators typically include balance sheets,
capital structure, income statements, cash flow statements, and depreciation schedules.
Regulators can gather financial data from a variety of sources, including reports to shareholders
and taxing authorities, but the most common approach is to require the operator to provide the
regulator with financial statements annually in accordance with a uniform system of accounts,
which is a set of regulator-determined accounting rules that define the accounts and the
accounting practices that the operator must follow when reporting financial information to the
regulator. Analysis of this information for purposes of regulating overall price levels is described
below in the subsection on Financial Analysis.
19

Chapter II Section C covers competition for the market.

Chapter II Section A examines monopoly market structure.
21
Cost of capital is reviewed in the subsection on Financial Analysis in this Overview and in Section G of Chapter
III on Financial Analysis. The appropriate measure for the cost of capital is the weighted average cost of capital
(WACC).
22
Chapter III focuses on obtaining and using information.
20

Operating statistics typically include information on prices, quantities of individual

services sold, numbers of customers, numbers of employees, quality of services provided,
sources of fuel or water, electricity generator or water treatment operating statistics, etc. usually
annually or monthly. In electricity markets, where competition among electricity generators
takes the form of an auction for the right to sell electricity for a given time period, regulators
may need to obtain information on bid prices and actual sales.
Information is also important for the regulator whose job it is to monitor or facilitate
competition. In these cases, the regulator would need information on such things as prices, sales,
market shares, essential facilities, services offered, and geographic areas served.

E.

Third Approach: Incentive Regulation 23

The third approach to dealing with information asymmetries and limiting the effects of
market power is for the regulator to design and implement incentive schemes that reward the
operator for using its private information to achieve the governments objectives. To be most
effective, the reward should (1) provide the operator with additional units of something it wants
for example, profits when the operator gives the government something it wants for
example, lower prices; (2) give the operator performance options that provide higher rewards for
accepting more challenging performance goals; and (3) allow the operator to keep only a
minimal reward for example, accounting profits that are no greater than the operators cost of
capital when the operator chooses the least challenging performance goal. Cost of capital is the
financial return that the operator must give to its investors and creditors to induce them to
provide capital for the firm. 24

1.

Basic Approaches to Incentive Regulation 25

Incentive regulation is generally implemented by controlling the overall price level of the
operator. There are four basic schemes to regulating overall price levels. The first approach is
generally called rate of return regulation or cost of service regulation. This regulatory instrument
establishes an overall price level that allows the operator to receive accounting profits that are
just equal to the operators cost of capital at the time the price level is set. Actual profits may
deviate from the cost of capital until the next time the regulator reviews the operators profits.
The second approach is called price cap regulation or RPI-X regulation, which is a
method that establishes the operators overall price level by indexing the price level according to
inflation minus an offset, called an X-factor. 26 The X-factor should reflect the difference between
this operator and the average firm in the economy with respect to their abilities to improve
23

Chapter IV on Regulating the Overall Price Level provides the primary information on incentive regulation,
although Chapter VI on Quality, Social, and Environmental Issues also examines incentives.
24
Section G of Chapter III notes how to estimate the cost of equity and the cost of capital.
25
Section A of Chapter IV covers this topic in more depth.
26
As explained below, some regulators using price cap regulation incorporate elements of rate of return regulation.

efficiency and to changes in input prices. Directly measuring these efficiency and input price
inflation differences to establish an X-factor, while ignoring the operators actual profits, is
called pure price cap regulation.
The third approach to regulating the overall price level is called revenue caps. This is
similar to price caps except that the inflation-minus-X formula applies to revenue rather than
prices.
The fourth approach is called benchmarking or yardstick regulation. This form of
regulation provides competition between markets by comparing operators across markets, in
effect forcing the operator to compete against the performance of comparable operators in other
markets. In practice benchmarking or yardstick regulation is an input used in price cap or
revenue cap regulation, and sometimes in rate of return or cost of service regulation.
Many regulators adopt hybrid incentive schemes, which are approaches that combine
features of the three basic methods of incentive regulation described above. For example, the
U.S. Federal Communications Commission once combined elements of rate of return regulation
and price cap regulation. Under its scheme, operators could choose from a menu of options.
Each option included an X-factor and a formula that determined the proportion of accounting
profits that the operator would be allowed to keep. Options with more aggressive (larger) Xfactors allowed operators to keep larger proportions of their accounting profits. Regulators in the
U.K. often use elements of rate of return regulation and benchmarking analysis to establish Xfactors in price cap regulation. This is described in the subsection Financial Analysis.
Another approach for combining elements of rate of return regulation and price or
revenue cap regulation is to include pass through elements in the scheme. For example a
regulator might use revenue caps to regulate the revenue of an electricity distribution operator,
but allow the operator to pass through changes in fuel costs to the extent that these cost changes
are beyond the operators control.

2.

Financial Analysis 27

It is very rare for incentive regulation to not involve extensive financial analysis. Such
analysis includes determining the operators cost of capital, historical costs, and projected costs.
The cost of capital consists of two elements, the cost of debt and the cost of equity. Regulators
typically obtain debt costs from operators financial reports, where the operators list their longterm debt instruments and the interest rates paid. Estimates of the operators cost of equity can be
obtained using financial models. Regulators combine the operators cost of debt and cost of
equity into a weighted average, called the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC).
Some regulators, such as those in the U.K., use historical and projected operating and
investment costs to set X-factors. (Historical information alone is generally used in rate of return
regulation.) The operators historical operating and investment costs can be obtained from the
operators accounting records. Care must be taken when using historical accounting data in
27

Financial analysis is covered in Chapter III.

situations where accounting standards were historically weak or inconsistent over time. In the
U.K. approach, projected operating and investment costs, existing net investment in regulatory
assets or rate base, and projected net investment are used in a net present value or equivalent
analysis to establish X-factors. This method involves making demand forecasts, identifying
investment requirements to meet the projected demand, and the forecasting of associated
operating expenses. These projections are analyzed and adjusted by the regulator to determine
how the operators overall price level should be allowed to change relative to inflation.
When using accounting costs, whether they are historical or projected, regulators place
below the line any costs that are not needed to provide the utility service or that are considered
excessive. The effect of this below the line treatment of costs is that prices for regulated services
are not intended to provide revenue to cover the costs. Costs for items needed to provide the
utility service are considered to be used and useful and so are kept above the line, which means
that they can be recovered through prices charged for regulated services. Costs that are
excessive, perhaps because the operator paid too much for an item or made an avoidable mistake
in an investment are considered imprudent and the excess is placed below the line.

3.

Ring Fencing and Accounting Separations 28

Accounting separations, which is the process of separating costs and revenues of

regulated operations from non-regulated operations, is another important aspect of determining
the overall price level for the operator. It is not unusual for an operator to provide services that
the regulator does not regulate. For example, an operator may provide utility services in another
country, offer utility services that have been deregulated, or offer non-regulated, non-utility
services such as data processing. Accounting separations places the associated costs and
revenues of these operations below the line.
A regulators accounting separations policies typically prescribe (1) accounts used to
record only regulated activities, accounts used only for non-regulated activities, and accounts
used for both types of activities; (2) how the costs and revenues in accounts that are used for both
regulated and non-regulated activities are to be divided between the two types of activities; (3)
how the operator is to value transactions between the regulated portion of the business and the
non-regulated portions of the business (called transfer pricing); and (4) reporting and auditing
requirements.
Some regulators use the term ring fencing to be synonymous with accounting
separations. Other regulators use the term ring fencing more broadly by including such practices
as providing different regulatory treatment for different services. Throughout the rest of this
Overview, the terms ring fencing and accounting separations will be used interchangeably.

4.
28

Benchmarking or Yardstick Regulation 29

Section E of Chapter III examines ring fencing and control of cross-subsidization.

Section D of Chapter IV covers benchmarking and yardstick regulation. Some analysts consider benchmarking or
yardstick analysis to be an input into rate of return regulation, price cap regulation, or revenue cap regulation rather
29

The third form of incentive regulation provides competition between comparable

operators in separate markets. When using this form of regulation, regulators generally should
choose performance measures that are general in nature and that operators can affect. An
example of a general performance measure might be cost per kilowatt hour and an example of a
more granular performance measure might be line maintenance cost per kilowatt hour. General
performance measures allow operators to make economic tradeoffs for example, between
capital investments and operating expenses while granular performance measures restrict the
means by which operators can improve measured performance. In addition to being used for
regulating overall price levels, benchmarking can be used for regulating such items as service
quality and network expansion.

F.

Tariff Design 30

Once the overall price level has been established for the operator, the work of
establishing the rate (or price) structure still remains. This work is called tariff design or rate
design and refers to relationships among the individual prices (or rate elements) that the operator
charges. In some instances, the regulator may choose not to regulate the price structure.
Examples include (1) situations where the objectives of the operator are in line with, or at least
do not contradict, the objectives of the regulator, at least as they relate to rate design, and (2)
situations where the regulators resources are limited and regulating price structure is a low
priority.
Most economists agree that efficient price structures cover total cost and align prices with
marginal costs. Marginal cost is the additional capital and operating cost that results from
increasing output by a single unit. 31 Marginal cost pricing may be difficult in situations where
there are economies of scale or economies of scope because prices equal to marginal costs would
not cover all of the costs of the operator and thus would not attract investment. In these
situations, regulators and operators generally favor multipart pricing or in some instances
Ramsey pricing. 32 Multipart pricing is an arrangement where the operator charges separate prices
for different elements of the service. For example, a water provider may charge a connection fee
plus a usage fee. With Ramsey pricing, which is also called differentiated pricing or the inverse
elasticity rule, the operator charges higher prices to customers with inelastic demand and lower
prices to customers with elastic demand. 33
than as method of incentive regulation that could be used by itself. It is true that with benchmark or yardstick
regulation prices are generally capped, which arguably makes the system look very much like price cap regulation.
Here it is treated as a separate form of incentive regulation because some regulators treat it that way, but the authors
recognize that benchmark or yardstick analyses are generally used as an element of a hybrid regulation scheme.
30
Chapter V covers tariff design.
31
If the system is capacity constrained, meaning that capacity cannot be increased, marginal cost would also include
the marginal congestion cost.
32
Regulators generally limit the use of Ramsey pricing to services that are not considered basic or essential to
customers the regulator is particularly trying to protect, such as low income or residential customers.
33
Customers have inelastic demand if they do not change the amount they purchase by very much if the operator
changes its prices. Conversely, customers have elastic demand if they respond to changes in prices by making large
changes in the quantities that they purchase. More precisely, inelastic demand means that a one percent change in

G.

Service Quality, Environmental, and Universal Access/Service Issues 34

In addition to addressing pricing issues, regulators address issues of service quality,

environmental protection, infrastructure development, and access to services for the poor. An
operator with market power may have an incentive to degrade retail service quality if doing so
increases profits, or to degrade quality for inputs sold to competitors if doing so decreases
competitive pressures. 35 Regulators often adopt schemes for regulating service quality to address
these problems. Service quality regulation generally includes quality standards, mechanisms for
monitoring quality, and penalties for not meeting the quality standards. It is less typical for the
operator to receive a reward for exceeding service quality standards.
Environmental regulation is similar to service quality regulation in that it often includes
standards, monitoring, and penalties or rewards. In some instances markets can be used for
environmental regulation. For example, the government may issue tradable emission permits to
electricity generators so that a generator that has low pollution control costs can profitably
decrease its emissions and sell some portion of its permit to a generator which has higher
pollution control costs. In many countries, the utility regulator does not have direct responsibility
for environmental regulation. Where this is the case, the regulator generally should be aware of
the countrys environmental policies and regulations because the utility regulators incentive
mechanisms and decisions on above- or below-the-line treatment of environmental protection
costs affects the operators incentives to cooperate in reaching the countrys environmental
goals.
In some instances, the regulator may want the operator to provide services that are not
commercially viable. The most common examples are infrastructure expansion and service or
service access to the poor. In the case of infrastructure expansion, the regulator may desire a
rapid system expansion, beyond what profit-maximizing operator in a competitive market would
choose, or desire network expansion into a rural area, where customers are unwilling or unable to
pay prices that would cover the cost of developing the rural infrastructure. The most common
solution is a requirement in the operator license or concession contract that sets out network
deployment expectations and the rewards or penalties that apply to encourage the operator to
meet the expectations. Other approaches include special franchises for rural areas and subsidies
for rural areas.
Policies for services to the poor generally use some combination of three basic elements
competition, service quality standards specific to services for the poor, and subsidies. Research
has shown that competition provides operators with incentives to find ways to profitably provide
service to the poor. For example, competition in mobile telecommunications in developing
countries provided operators with an incentive to develop prepaid service, which made it
price results in a percentage change in the quantity demanded that is less than one percent, while elastic demand
means that the one percent change in price results in a greater than one percent change in quantity demanded.
34
Chapter VI covers service quality, environmental, and universal access and service issues.
35
Generally the operator in charge of the network for power or water would be a monopoly and so would have
market power. Regulators generally focus service quality regulation on such operators.

possible for the poor, who are generally unable to establish credit for post-paid service, to obtain
service. 36 Competition among entrepreneurs who transport water from wells or streams has also
increased the supply of water to the poor in some instances.
Situations also arise where services to the poor can be made affordable by offering
services that are of a lower quality than services provided to wealthier customers. For example, a
shared sewage system provides a lower level of service than a system that gives each customer
his or her own connection, but may be more affordable for the poor than the higher quality
system.
Subsidies are also a common feature of policies designed to assist the poor. These
generally take the form of service or infrastructure development obligations for operators.
(Infrastructure development issues are described above.) In these situations, the operator
internalizes the subsidies. In other instances, the subsidies may be explicit. For example, water
customers living in low-income areas of Colombia have received credits on their bills.
Customers in wealthier areas had surcharges on their bills to fund the subsidies to the poorer
customers. Subsidy arrangements should be approached with caution. Research has shown that
traditionally higher income customers benefit more from subsidies than do poorer customers.

H.

Regulatory Process 37

An important feature of utility regulation is the institutional arrangement within which it

occurs because these arrangements affect stakeholders beliefs and abilities to influence
regulation, the incentives and capabilities of the regulatory agencies, and the role of politics in
the regulatory process. In fact, the institutional structure of regulation takes us back to an earlier
point about objectives because this institutional structure plays a significant role in determining
the regulators objectives. 38
If the regulatory agency is subject to daily political pressures, for example, then the
agency may place more weight on short-term political goals than on long-term infrastructure
development goals identified in the countrys laws. A consequence of the regulator pursing
short-term political goals may include prices that are so low as to discourage investment or the
politically powerful benefiting more from regulatory policies than the politically weak. There is
also a danger that the agency may be subject to capture by operator interests and so serve the
interests of the industry rather than pursue the provision of efficient utility services.
To avoid these and other outcomes that serve the needs of special interests, experts
generally recommend institutional arrangements that (1) focus the countrys political efforts on
establishing laws under which the regulator performs her function, and (2) make it easier for
customers and other stakeholders to regulate the regulator and policy makers. These
arrangements are designed to ensure, to the extent practical, that the regulators objectives
correspond to the objectives of the population. These arrangements regulate the regulator and
36

Prepaid service was subsequently adopted even in markets where there was no competition.
Chapter VII covers the regulatory process.
38
This topic is covered in both normative theories of regulation and positive theories of regulation.
37

policy makers by encouraging regulation under the law and independence, transparency,
predictability, legitimacy, and credibility of the regulatory system.

1.

Institutional Arrangements

Institutional arrangements in regulation include institutional design, methods for review

and appeal of regulatory decisions, mechanisms for encouraging ethical conduct, and processes
for managing relationships with stakeholders. The design of regulatory institutions includes such
features as appointment processes for regulators, agency financing, scope of responsibilities and
authority of the agency, regulatory processes for protecting stakeholders rights and providing
stakeholders with information, and the management structure of the regulatory agency.
Appointment and removal processes for regulators and financing of the regulatory agency
affect the regulators ability to operate independently of short-term political interests and the
governments ability to ensure that the regulator is following the governments established
policies. For example, if the president, parliament, or ministry of a country can remove the
regulator at will, then absent extraordinary self control on the part of politicians, the regulator
has an incentive to serve the politicians short-term interests. On the other hand, a regulator-forlife who has control of her own budget would have extraordinary power and, absent strong
judicial oversight, would be able to pursue personal agendas that may conflict with the policies
and laws of the country.
Policies that provide due process for stakeholders ensure that the persons affected by
regulation are able to provide the regulator with information and opinions that are relevant to the
regulators decisions. Policies that require the regulator to keep records, make the records
publicly available, and provide substantive explanations for regulatory decisions allow customers
and other stakeholders to observe how the regulator makes decisions and facilitate appeals of
regulatory decisions.

2.

Review and Appeal

The review and appeal processes for regulatory decisions includes decision making
processes, choices of regulatory instruments, stakeholder and government roles in regulatory
decision making, mechanisms for appeal of regulatory decisions, and alternative dispute
resolution processes. Regulatory instruments include legislation and licenses, the choice of
which is often determined by the legal traditions of the country and the methods by which these
instruments can be changed. For example, the regulatory process is politicized if a license is the
regulatory instrument and the ministry can change the license at will.
In some countries, regulatory decisions are subject to ministry review, which can also
politicize regulation. To avoid such situations, some countries provide only judicial review of
regulatory decisions or establish administrative tribunals. Some countries allow courts to
overrule the regulator only on legal or procedural grounds and not on the substantive grounds of
the regulatory decision itself. In some situations legal processes can delay regulatory decisions to

such an extent that the decisions cannot be made in a timely fashion, which degrades sector
performance. To avoid such delays, some countries use alternative dispute resolutions
procedures, such as binding arbitration, to speed resolution of conflicts.

3.

Ethical Conduct

Ethical conduct of regulators is important because control mechanisms, such as appeals

and due process, are imperfect and may be costly. Instruments for encouraging ethical conduct
include adopting conflict-of-interest standards and codes of conduct. A conflict of interest may
occur if, for example, the regulator or the regulators family members having financial stakes in
operators, or if the regulator has either recently worked for an operator or another stakeholder, or
has served as a consultant for a stakeholder, or has negotiated future employment or business
arrangements with a stakeholder. In the UK, for example, regulators have to obtain permission
from ministers to work in their area of regulation after leaving the regulatory authority. Codes of
conduct often cover such issues as meetings with stakeholders, record keeping procedures, and
political activities.

4.

Stakeholder Relations

Stakeholder relations affect the independence of the agency and include the use of
advisory boards, communication strategies, grievance procedures, and relationships with the
government, consumers, operators, and investors. Some regulators use advisory boards to
facilitate stakeholder input, especially on issues of long-term planning and on issues that require
ongoing surveillance, such as service quality regulation. Care must be taken when using advisory
boards to ensure that the stakeholders represented do not obtain privileged positions for
influencing the regulator. Regulators generally receive complaints from consumers related to
prices and service quality, and often regulators have special staff designated to handle these
complaints.
Some of the regulators interactions with stakeholders can take the form of negotiations.
Such circumstances make it important for regulators to develop strategic negotiation skills, such
as identifying parties interests and win-win solutions.
Lastly, regulators generally dedicate trained staff to dealing with the press because the
public receives most of its information about regulation through newspapers and other media.
This reliance upon journalists makes it important for regulators to develop good press relations,
provide effective press releases, and learn how to provide timely and accurate information to the
press.

I.

Concluding Observations

Regulation is performed in a network of relationships among persons and institutions that

differ in their objectives, incentives, and sets of information. For regulation to result in effective

and efficient sector performance which is necessary for customers to receive their maximum
benefit from the sector decision-making procedures should be in place to limit information
asymmetries and that provide incentives for operators, government, and regulators to work for
the best interest of customers and the economy. This generally means that (1) effective
competition should be encouraged whenever possible, (2) the regulator should gather
information about the sector and should provide stakeholders with information on the regulator
and her decisions, (3) incentive regulation should reward the operator with the opportunity for
higher profits when he accepts performance goals that make customers better off, (4)
requirements should be established for service quality and access for the poor, and (5) regulatory
processes should align the goals and capabilities of the regulator with the welfare of customers.