Addressing the Rising Costs of Electricity, Water and Gas – Would More Multi-Utility Firms Help?

Malcolm Abbott () and Bruce Cohen

Economic Papers, 2014, vol. 33, issue 1, 55-66

Abstract: type="main" xml:id="ecpa12061-abs-0001">

In the face of rising costs of living and stagnant productivity growth in the utilities sector, this article considers the scope for the greater bundling of services and the further development of multi-utility firms in Australia. With particular reference to the water sector, the article sets out the range of factors likely to contribute to, or inhibit such developments in Australia. In summary, this article concludes that the limited economies of scope that exist between the water and energy (gas and electricity) sectors, as compared to those within the energy sector, is a primary factor restricting the potential development of multi-utility firms. It also suggests the potential scope for bundling and development of multi-utility firms is likely to be inhibited by the lack of competition in the water sector, and to a lesser degree the predominant government ownership of that sector. Nonetheless, this article suggests further work should be undertaken to more accurately assess the potential for economies of scope in the delivery of utility services. It also notes that any change to facilitate bundling as a means to lower pricing also requires pricing regulation to be adapted to address any potential obfuscation by firms.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecpa.2014.33.issue-1 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:econpa:v:33:y:2014:i:1:p:55-66

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0812-0439

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Papers is currently edited by Professor Guay Lim

More articles in Economic Papers from The Economic Society of Australia Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().