Do publicly owned companies have lower district heating prices? An empirical analysis for Germany

IF 3.8 3区经济学 Q3 ENERGY & FUELS

Utilities Policy Pub Date : 2025-05-16 DOI:10.1016/j.jup.2025.101959

Miguel Bänfer, Anna Billerbeck, Patrick Plötz

引用次数: 0

Abstract

District heating (DH) networks can provide climate-neutral heating if operated using renewable energy resources. However, their operation is monopolistic and thus without price competition. Publicly owned companies have been conjectured to offer DH at lower prices than privately owned companies, but the evidence is limited. Here, we empirically analyse over 500 DH prices of 184 DH companies in Germany. Controlling for energy carrier, network size and other factors, we demonstrate that prices of publicly owned DH companies are lower by 9–15 €/MWh (10–20 %). Thus, publicly owned DH can make a cost-efficient contribution to climate-neutral heating.

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公营公司是否有较低的区域供热价格？德国的实证分析

如果使用可再生能源，区域供热网络可以提供气候中和供热。然而，他们的经营是垄断的，因此没有价格竞争。据推测，上市公司提供的DH价格低于私营公司，但证据有限。在这里，我们对德国184家DH公司的500多个DH价格进行了实证分析。在控制了能源载体、网络规模和其他因素后，我们证明了公有DH公司的价格要低9-15欧元/兆瓦时（10 - 20%）。因此，公共卫生部门可以为气候中性供暖做出具有成本效益的贡献。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Utilities Policy ENERGY & FUELS-ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

CiteScore

6.80

自引率

10.00%

发文量

审稿时长

66 days

期刊介绍： Utilities Policy is deliberately international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral. Articles address utility trends and issues in both developed and developing economies. Authors and reviewers come from various disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, law, finance, accounting, management, and engineering. Areas of focus include the utility and network industries providing essential electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater, solid waste, communications, broadband, postal, and public transportation services. Utilities Policy invites submissions that apply various quantitative and qualitative methods. Contributions are welcome from both established and emerging scholars as well as accomplished practitioners. Interdisciplinary, comparative, and applied works are encouraged. Submissions to the journal should have a clear focus on governance, performance, and/or analysis of public utilities with an aim toward informing the policymaking process and providing recommendations as appropriate. Relevant topics and issues include but are not limited to industry structures and ownership, market design and dynamics, economic development, resource planning, system modeling, accounting and finance, infrastructure investment, supply and demand efficiency, strategic management and productivity, network operations and integration, supply chains, adaptation and flexibility, service-quality standards, benchmarking and metrics, benefit-cost analysis, behavior and incentives, pricing and demand response, economic and environmental regulation, regulatory performance and impact, restructuring and deregulation, and policy institutions.