Discussion of: ‘Regulatory reform for diversified public utilities: For better or for worse?’ by Ronald Braeutigam

Abstract

This paper discusses Prof. Braeutigam's paper on regulatory reform as well as comments on the more general topic of incentives regulation. Certain restrictive assumptions in Braeutigam's paper, such as competition in non-core markets, are noted and the three major topics, regulatory reform, diversification and price caps are examined. The paper then turns to the more general topic of incentives regulation and points out further experimentation should continue, and traditional disincentives, such as disallowance and prudence reviews, should not be abandoned.