A comparative analysis of the electricity and telecommunications regulations of the UK and Germany - cross country and cross sectoral lessons
The lack of complete harmonization at EU level during the electricity and telecommunications reforms allowed for regulatory competition between the Member States. The aim of the thesis is to explore what regulatory lessons can be learnt out of the comparison of the different regulations of the UK and Germany. The major differences between these regulations concern: 1) unbundling, 2) regulatory authorities and 3) Significant Market Power (SMP) regulation. Chapter 1 gives a general basis, through the analysis of the specific regulatory outcomes (prices, market shares and consumer satisfaction) then a more qualitative analysis of the separate legal issues above is carried out in Chapters 2, 3 and 4. Chapter 2 focuses primarily on past regulatory differences in vertical separation of the network: in general a more separationist approach in telecommunications than in electricity. We found that this difference is justified since stronger separation correlated with more companies challenging the incumbent in the electricity sector, while we found no evidence for this in the telecommunications sector. Chapter 3 assesses whether the UK could benefit from the creation of a super-regulator similar to Germany’s Bundesnetzagentur, by merging Ofgem (the energy regulator) and Ofcom (telecommunications regulator). We found that since there is no visible convergence yet between the energy and telecommunications sectors, it would only make sense to merge the UK regulators if this would lead to enhanced cost-effectiveness. Chapter 4 assesses the difference between the electricity and the telecommunications regulation in terms of the use of SMP regulation. SMP regulation is an integral part of the telecommunications regulation, but the concept is not applied in the electricity regulations. We assess whether SMP regulation could benefit the electricity regulations. The conclusion is that the introduction of an SMP-style regulation could be a practical, politically feasible and potentially beneficial alternative solution.
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