Reported Utility Service Satisfaction: The Case of Electricity in Transition Economies

Antonio Carvalho (antonio.aniceto.carvalho@gmail.com)

No 1, CEERP Working Paper Series from Centre for Energy Economics Research and Policy, Heriot-Watt University

Abstract: Since the end of the Soviet Union, the power sector in the countries resulting from its disintegration has evolved from a context of central planning towards independent regulation. There is great heterogeneity in reform progress in transition countries, with consequences to service quality and prices in utilities and also the view the population has of such services. This paper conducts an overview of the modern power sector in transition economies and analyses drivers of reported household satisfaction with the quality of electricity services in 27 countries using cross-sectional survey data from the EBRD Life in Transition Survey II, in a context of improving regulatory and infrastructural frameworks, using an ordinal random effects model with a probit link function. Key drivers of reported satisfaction are the uses of electricity within the household and some characteristics such as age, economic conditions and general life satisfaction. However, there is no evidence of the effect of power sector reform on the opinion of households. This points that the general life experience in transition can be the key driver of how households feel about utilities, as reform brings conflicting effects that stem from increasing cost sustainability, competition, transparency and quality of the service.

Keywords: Electricity; Transition Economies; Household Satisfaction; Ordinal Probit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 P21 P28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2015-11, Revised 2015-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-reg and nep-tra
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http://ceerp.hw.ac.uk/RePEc/hwc/wpaper/001.pdf First version, 2015 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hwc:wpaper:001

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