Utility Regulators--Roles and Responsibilities
Author: Warrick Smith Date: 10/1/1997 (PDF, 200KB)
There are three main issues in defining a utility regulator's role: the scope of its coverage, its role in relation to ministers, and its role in relation to other regulatory entities such as the competition agency or agencies dealing with environment or health and safety. Warrick Smith makes a case for multi-industry agencies covering everything from power to water to transport. Multi-industry agencies have several advantages that are especially important for developing countries. They allow the pooling of scarce expertise. They reduce the risk of industry and political capture. They reduce the risk of inconsistency in regulatory approaches across sectors. And they help to deal with the blurring of industry boundaries as utilities enter one another's markets (as when power utilities enter telecommunications, and water and power utilities merge).