PUBLIC SERVICE PERSPECTIVES ON REFORMS OF ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION AND SUPPLY: A MODULAR ANALYSIS |
| |
| Authors: | Ute Dubois Roxana Saplacan |
| |
| Institution: | 1. University of Paris Sud 11, France;2. The authors thank Jean‐Michel Glachant, Dominique Finon, Marc‐Kevin Codognet, Philippe Chanel and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the French research programme R2DS (Réseau de Recherche sur le Développement Soutenable de la Région Ile de France). The results, interpretations and opinions expressed in this paper remain under the sole responsibility of the authors. E‐mail: |
| |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT ** : This article analyzes organizational change in electricity distribution and retail businesses and its impact on public service issues. Organizational change has resulted from the European electricity directives, especially the EU Electricity directive 2003/54/EC , which has imposed major transformations on these activities, requiring legal unbundling of electricity distribution networks by 1 July 2007. Organizational change has also resulted from an adaptation of companies to the newly competitive environment. This has led to a diversity of organizational choices across Europe. We analyze this diversity by using a modular approach, which decomposes reforms in electricity distribution and retail into logical ‘blocks’. We then examine how European countries have dealt with two policy and regulatory issues related to customer protection in that new environment: the regulation of quality of distribution, which is a task of regulators, and energy affordability policies for vulnerable customers, which are a central aspect of public service policies in the electricity sector. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
