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House of Commons		 Session 1996-7
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Trade and Industry Committee Reports

Trade and Industry - First Report

Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee. The published report was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 11 March 1997.


TABLE OF CONTENTS




Terms of Reference

LIST OF WITNESSES

LIST OF MEMORANDA INCLUDED IN THE MINUTES OF EVIDENCE

LIST OF MEMORANDA INCLUDED IN VOLUME II

LIST OF MEMORANDA REPORTED TO THE HOUSE AND NOT PRINTED


CONTENTS OF THE REPORT

  INTRODUCTION
  THE REGULATORY REGIME
  THE ROLE OF THE REGULATOR
      Duties
    Functions
  REGULATORY OBJECTIVES
    Security of Supply
    Customer Protection
      Price Controls
      Why incentive regulation?
      Criticisms of the RPI-X form of regulation
      Profit-sharing
      The review period
      The Retail Price Index
      Determination of price levels
    Developing Competition
      To promote or to secure?
      The role of the regulator in promoting competition
      The operation of the Pool and the regulator
      The state of competition in generation
      The Pool, the Network Code and the regulators
      Liberalisation
      Domestic gas supplies
      Domestic electricity supplies
      Regulation post-liberalisation
    Regulating Natural Monopolies
      Separation of functions
      Cost allocation
    Environmental Protection
      Why is environmental protection in the energy sector important?
      Who has responsibility for environmental regulation in the gas and
        electricity industries?
      Who should have responsibility for environmental regulation in the gas and   electricity industries?
      Co-operation and co-ordination
      Exercise of statutory functions regarding environmental regulation
    Energy Efficiency
      The E-factor
      Standards of Performance
      Other environmental regulation initiatives
      The impact of competitive supply markets on energy efficiency and energy   conservation
      Energy Services
      The Energy Saving Trust
    Protecting Consumers' Interests
      OFGAS and Consumer Protection
      OFFER and Consumer Protection
      Responsibility for social issues
      Consumer protection in liberalised domestic energy markets
  REGULATORY RESOURCES
      Regulatory staff
      Consultants
      Boards and panels
      Access to information
  DECISION-MAKING AND LEGITIMACY
      Accountability
    Regulatory Transparency
      Reasons for decisions
      Consultation methods
    Consumer Representation
      Consumer representative bodies
      Consumer bodies: structure and relationship with regulators
      Resources of consumer representative bodies
    Appeals
      Judicial Review
      Appeals to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission
      The need for an additional appeals mechanism
      Customer appeals
    Relationships between the Regulatory Offices and the Director General of Fair
        Trading
  RESTRUCTURING AND ITS REGULATORY CONSEQUENCES
    The development of multi-utilities
    Consequences of re-structuring for regulation
    Government policy on mergers and takeovers in the energy sector
  WINNERS AND LOSERS?
  FUTURE STRUCTURE OF REGULATION
  ENERGY POLICY
  CONCLUSION
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
APPENDIX 1
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE RELATING TO THE REPORT

Notes:

References to "Q" are to the question numbers in the oral evidence; "Ev. p." refers to pages in the memoranda published with the oral evidence; and "Mem. p." refers to pages in the memoranda included in Volume II.

 
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Prepared 18 March 1997