IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bba/j00001/v2y2023i3p43-65d44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Decision-Making Framework for Assessing New Rate Mechanisms: The Case of US Gas Distributors

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth W. Costello

    (Regulatory economist/independent consultant, the National Regulatory Research Institute, USA)

Abstract

To make an assessment of ratemaking proposals, this article proposes that regulators should consider applying a logical decision-making process, such as multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), that selects or modifies those rate mechanisms that come closest to achieving the public interest, as defined by regulators. MCDA seems like an fitting tool to improve regulatory decisions by making more explicit the relationship between different rate mechanisms and the public interest. This article provides a simplified version of MCDA to demonstrate how regulators can apply this tool to evaluate new rate mechanisms in terms of the public interest. As far as the author knows, the MCDA methodology applied to utility ratemaking has not appeared in the literature. While regulators may not want to or lack the resources to execute all the steps presented in this article, MCDA can provide direction to regulators in evaluating different rate mechanisms and ultimately reaching decisions that are more rational and aligned with the public interest. After all, evaluating rate mechanisms is one of the major functions of utility regulators. Doing it wrongly can have a consequential effect on society’s welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth W. Costello, 2023. "A Decision-Making Framework for Assessing New Rate Mechanisms: The Case of US Gas Distributors," Journal of Economic Analysis, Anser Press, vol. 2(3), pages 43-65, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bba:j00001:v:2:y:2023:i:3:p:43-65:d:44
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.anserpress.org/journal/jea/2/3/32/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.anserpress.org/journal/jea/2/3/32
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Kahneman, 2003. "Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1449-1475, December.
    2. Costello, Ken, 2009. "How Should Regulators View Cost Trackers?," The Electricity Journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 20-33, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hao, Xiaoli & Wen, Shufang & Li, Ke & Wu, Junwei & Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu, 2023. "Environmental governance, executive incentive, and enterprise performance: Evidence from Chinese mineral enterprises," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Randall Holcombe, 2009. "The behavioral foundations of Austrian economics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 301-313, December.
    2. Brette, Olivier & Buhler, Thomas & Lazaric, Nathalie & Marechal, Kevin, 2014. "Reconsidering the nature and effects of habits in urban transportation behavior," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 399-426, September.
    3. Winter, Peter, 2007. "Managerial Risk Accounting and Control – A German perspective," MPRA Paper 8185, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Kolbe, Maura & Mansouri, Sasan & Momtaz, Paul P., 2022. "Why do video pitches matter in crowdfunding?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    5. J. Silvestre, & T. Araújo & M. St. Aubyn, 2016. "Economic growth and individual satisfaction in an agent-based economy," Working Papers Department of Economics 2016/19, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    6. Xiao Lin, 2020. "Risk awareness and adverse selection in catastrophe insurance: Evidence from California’s residential earthquake insurance market," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 43-65, August.
    7. Luigi Guiso, 2015. "A Test of Narrow Framing and its Origin," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 1(1), pages 61-100, March.
    8. Henrik Andersson & Mikael Svensson, 2008. "Cognitive ability and scale bias in the contingent valuation method," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 39(4), pages 481-495, April.
    9. Samuel Ferey & Yannick Gabuthy & Nicolas Jacquemet, 2013. "L'apport de l'économie expérimentale dans l'élaboration des politiques publiques," Revue française d'économie, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(2), pages 155-194.
    10. Bleichrodt, Han & Rohde, Kirsten I.M. & Van Ourti, Tom, 2012. "An experimental test of the concentration index," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 86-98.
    11. Jack Vromen, 2007. "Neuroeconomics as a Natural Extension of Bioeconomics: The Shifting Scope of Standard Economic Theory," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 145-167, August.
    12. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    13. B Kelsey Jack, "undated". "Market Inefficiencies and the Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Developing Countries," CID Working Papers 50, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    14. Natalya D. Likhareva & Elena B. Gafforova & Igor A. Novikov, 2022. "International market selection by small enterprises: Cognitive biases and heuristics in decision-making," Upravlenets, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 13(1), pages 84-99, March.
    15. Eduard Marinov, 2017. "The 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 117-159.
    16. Alexander Kempf & Christoph Merkle & Alexandra Niessen†Ruenzi, 2014. "Low Risk and High Return – Affective Attitudes and Stock Market Expectations," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 20(5), pages 995-1030, November.
    17. Kelly, Scott & Shipworth, Michelle & Shipworth, David & Gentry, Michael & Wright, Andrew & Pollitt, Michael & Crawford-Brown, Doug & Lomas, Kevin, 2013. "Predicting the diversity of internal temperatures from the English residential sector using panel methods," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 601-621.
    18. Döring Thomas, 2013. "John Maynard Keynes als Verhaltensökonom – illustriert anhand seiner Analyse des Versailler Vertrags / John Maynard Keynes as Behavioral Economist – Represented by his Analysis of the Treaty of Versai," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 64(1), pages 27-52, January.
    19. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2017. "Richard H. Thaler: Integrating Economics with Psychology," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2017-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    20. Daniels, David P. & Zlatev, Julian J., 2019. "Choice architects reveal a bias toward positivity and certainty," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 132-149.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bba:j00001:v:2:y:2023:i:3:p:43-65:d:44. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ramona Wang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.anserpress.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.