EPRG 0806

Tooraj Jamasb, Michael Pollitt, Thomas Triebs

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

EPRG 0806 Non-Technical Summary | PDF

Also published in:

• Jamasb, T., Pollitt, M. and Triebs, T. (2008), “Productivity and Efficiency of US Gas Transmission Companies: A European Regulatory Perspective”, Energy Policy 36(9)

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.

Keywords: Natural gas transmission; utility regulation; data envelopment analysis; total factor productivity; convergence