Drawing The Line On Natural Gas Regulation

This eagerly awaited book on natural gas policy promises to be the major work on the subject. The result of the Harvard Study on the Future of Natural Gas, conducted under the auspices of the Energy and Environmental Policy Center at the Kennedy School of Government, it is comprised of ten articles reflecting the ideas, discussions, and debates of recognized experts in the field of energy policy. The result is an in-depth analysis of the energy debate including past regulatory policy and its effect on the consumer industry, deregulation and its current and future impact, and other topics of serious concern to the industry. Policy recommendations are also made.

It is common to assert that utility investors are compensated in the allowed rate of return for the risk of large disallowances, such as arise for investments found imprudent or not `used and useful'. However, this book develops a new theory of asymmetric regulatory risk that shows that infallible estimates of the cost of capital are sure to provide downward-biased estimates of the necessary allowed rates of return in the presence of such regulatory risks. The book uses the new theory of regulatory risk to understand recent developments in the risk of natural gas pipelines and other regulated industries.

In the natural gas industry, competition and contracting are gradually replacing monopoly and regulation. In this volume, many leading economists who follow the gas industry present their views on current and future industry trends. To help regulators and industry leaders better understand these changes and to reform regulation, the authors apply economic theories of contestable markets, public choice, transaction costs and dynamic entrepreneurship to the gas industry. The issues addressed in this work are crucial, not just for the gas industry, but for all industries that have traditionally been treated as regulated monopolies.

Risk and Return for Regulated Industries provides a much-needed, comprehensive review of how cost of capital risk arises and can be measured, how the special risks regulated industries face affect fair return, and the challenges that regulated industries are likely to face in the future. Rather than following the trend of broad industry introductions or textbook style reviews of utility finance, it covers the topics of most interest to regulators, regulated companies, regulatory lawyers, and rate-of-return analysts in all countries. Accordingly, the book also includes case studies about various countries and discussions of the lessons international regulatory procedures can offer. Presents a unified treatment of the regulatory principles and practices used to assess the required return on capital Addresses current practices before exploring the ways methods play out in practice, including irregularities, shortcomings, and concerns for the future Focuses on developed economies instead of providing a comprehensive global reviews Foreword by Stewart C. Myers