IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v147y2020ics0301421520305462.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impacts of price regulation on price dispersion in Australia's retail electricity markets

Author

Listed:
  • Esplin, Ryan
  • Davis, Ben
  • Rai, Alan
  • Nelson, Tim

Abstract

Price deregulation in Australia's National Electricity Market has led to increased competition and greater price dispersion in retail electricity markets. However, recent increases in electricity prices and concerns around disengaged customers have led policy makers to impose a ‘default offer’ to cap retail electricity prices. In this article, we develop a model that demonstrates the mechanism through which a price cap leads to the withdrawal of the lowest priced offers from the market, in effect reducing the benefits available to customers that ‘shop around’. We calculate a measure of actual price dispersion showing that a compression of offers since the price cap was imposed has reduced the returns from search by 2.3 per cent, or $37 per year on average. We argue that the important issue of vulnerable, disengaged customers on high priced offers is best addressed through non-price regulation policy options, such as an auction for the right to serve customers that are both vulnerable and disengaged.

Suggested Citation

  • Esplin, Ryan & Davis, Ben & Rai, Alan & Nelson, Tim, 2020. "The impacts of price regulation on price dispersion in Australia's retail electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:147:y:2020:i:c:s0301421520305462
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111829
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421520305462
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111829?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaoping He & David Reiner, 2018. "Consumer Engagement in Energy Markets: The Role of Information and Knowledge," Working Papers EPRG 1835, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    2. Kenneth S. Corts, 1998. "Third-Degree Price Discrimination in Oligopoly: All-Out Competition and Strategic Commitment," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 29(2), pages 306-323, Summer.
    3. Tsai, Chen-Hao & Tsai, Yi-Lin, 2018. "Competitive retail electricity market under continuous price regulation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 274-287.
    4. John W. Pratt & David A. Wise & Richard Zeckhauser, 1979. "Price Differences in almost Competitive Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(2), pages 189-211.
    5. Stephen Littlechild, 2014. "Promoting or restricting competition?: Regulation of the UK retail residential energy market since 2008," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1441, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    6. Littlechild Stephen C., 2002. "Competition in Retail Electricity Supply," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 1-26, June.
    7. Miguel Flores and Catherine Waddams Price, 2018. "The Role of Attitudes and Marketing in Consumer Behaviours in the British Retail Electricity Market," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    8. Nelson, Tim & McCracken-Hewson, Eleanor & Whish-Wilson, Patrick & Bashir, Stephanie, 2018. "Price dispersion in Australian retail electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 158-169.
    9. Littlechild, Stephen C, 2003. "Wholesale Spot Price Pass-Through," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 61-91, January.
    10. Paul Simshauser & Tim Nelson, 2014. "The Consequences of Retail Electricity Price Rises: Rethinking Customer Hardship," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 47(1), pages 13-43, March.
    11. Severin Borenstein & James Bushnell, 2015. "The US Electricity Industry After 20 Years of Restructuring," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 437-463, August.
    12. Hartley, Peter R. & Medlock, Kenneth B. & Jankovska, Olivera, 2019. "Electricity reform and retail pricing in Texas," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-11.
    13. Janssen, Maarten & Gugler, Klaus & Heim, Sven & Liebensteiner , Mario, 2018. "Market Liberalization: Price Dispersion, Price Discrimination and Consumer Search in the German Electricity Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 13197, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Tyers, Roger & Sweeney, Martin & Moon, Beth, 2019. "Harnessing behavioural insights to encourage consumer engagement in the British energy market: Results from a field trial," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 162-176.
    15. Borenstein, Severin & Rose, Nancy L, 1994. "Competition and Price Dispersion in the U.S. Airline Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(4), pages 653-683, August.
    16. Monica Giulietti & Michael Waterson & Matthijs Wildenbeest, 2014. "Estimation of Search Frictions in the British Electricity Market," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 555-590, December.
    17. Morten Hviid & Catherine Waddams Price, 2012. "Non‐Discrimination Clauses in the Retail Energy Sector," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(562), pages 236-252, August.
    18. Stefania Sitzia & Jiwei Zheng & Daniel Zizzo, 2015. "Inattentive consumers in markets for services," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 79(2), pages 307-332, September.
    19. Colin Loxley & David Salant, 2004. "Default Service Auctions," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 201-229, September.
    20. Michael R. Baye & John Morgan & Patrick Scholten, 2006. "Information, Search, and Price Dispersion," Working Papers 2006-11, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    21. Holmes, Thomas J, 1989. "The Effects of Third-Degree Price Discrimination in Oligopoly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 244-250, March.
    22. Ali Hortaçsu & Seyed Ali Madanizadeh & Steven L. Puller, 2017. "Power to Choose? An Analysis of Consumer Inertia in the Residential Electricity Market," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 192-226, November.
    23. Catherine Waddams Price and Minyan Zhu, 2016. "Non-discrimination Clauses: Their Effect on British Retail Energy Prices," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    24. Kang, Linhong & Zarnikau, Jay, 2009. "Did the expiration of retail price caps affect prices in the restructured Texas electricity market?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1713-1717, May.
    25. Simshauser, Paul, 2018. "Price discrimination and the modes of failure in deregulated retail electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 54-70.
    26. Defeuilley, Christophe, 2009. "Retail competition in electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 377-386, February.
    27. Simshauser, Paul & Whish-Wilson, Patrick, 2017. "Price discrimination in Australia's retail electricity markets: An analysis of Victoria & Southeast Queensland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 92-103.
    28. Catherine Waddams Price & Minyan Zhu, 2016. "Empirical Evidence Of Consumer Response In Regulated Markets," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 113-149.
    29. Catherine Waddams Price, 2018. "Back to the Future? Regulating Residential Energy Markets," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 147-155, January.
    30. Stole, Lars A., 2007. "Price Discrimination and Competition," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 2221-2299, Elsevier.
    31. Nelson, Tim & McCracken-Hewson, Eleanor & Sundstrom, Gabby & Hawthorne, Marianne, 2019. "The drivers of energy-related financial hardship in Australia – understanding the role of income, consumption and housing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 262-271.
    32. Stephen Littlechild, 2019. "Promoting competition and protecting customers? Regulation of the GB retail energy market 2008–2016," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 107-139, April.
    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. Cui, Jian & Yang, Hanfang & Wang, Yifan & Yang, Caili, 2023. "Dynamics of the gas retail market under China's price cap regulation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    2. Simshauser, Paul, 2021. "Vulnerable households and fuel poverty: Measuring the efficiency of policy targeting in Queensland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    3. Cassetta, Ernesto & Nava, Consuelo R. & Zoia, Maria Grazia, 2022. "EU electricity market integration and cross-country convergence in residential and industrial end-user prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    4. Brown, David P. & Eckert, Andrew & Olmstead, Derek E.H., 2022. "Procurement auctions for regulated retail service contracts in restructured electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Simone Di Leo & Marta Chicca & Cinzia Daraio & Andrea Guerrini & Stefano Scarcella, 2022. "A Framework for the Analysis of the Sustainability of the Energy Retail Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-28, June.
    6. Paul Simshauser, 2022. "The 2022 energy crisis: horizontal and vertical impacts of policy interventions in Australia's national electricity market," Working Papers EPRG2216, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    7. Simshauser, Paul, 2023. "The 2022 energy crisis: Fuel poverty and the impact of policy interventions in Australia's National Electricity Market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    8. Simshauser, P., 2021. "Vulnerable households and fuel poverty: policy targeting efficiency in Australia’s National Electricity Market," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2129, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    9. Jia, Zhijie & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "Primary fossil energy cost and price regulation in energy processing sectors---the perspective of price regulation market with Chinese characteristics," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    10. Esplin, Ryan & Best, Rohan & Scranton, Jessica & Chai, Andreas, 2022. "Who pays the loyalty tax? The relationship between socioeconomic status and switching in Australia's retail electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    11. Simeone, Christina E. & Lange, Ian & Gilbert, Ben, 2023. "Pass-through in residential retail electricity competition: Evidence from Pennsylvania," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Mukherjee, Maitreyee & Jensen, Olivia, 2022. "Open Water: Impacts of Retail Competition on Service Performance and Water-Use Efficiency in England," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    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. Stephen Littlechild, 2019. "Promoting competition and protecting customers? Regulation of the GB retail energy market 2008–2016," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 107-139, April.
    2. Simshauser, Paul, 2018. "Price discrimination and the modes of failure in deregulated retail electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 54-70.
    3. Esplin, Ryan & Best, Rohan & Scranton, Jessica & Chai, Andreas, 2022. "Who pays the loyalty tax? The relationship between socioeconomic status and switching in Australia's retail electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    4. Nelson, Tim & McCracken-Hewson, Eleanor & Whish-Wilson, Patrick & Bashir, Stephanie, 2018. "Price dispersion in Australian retail electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 158-169.
    5. Simshauser, Paul & Whish-Wilson, Patrick, 2017. "Price discrimination in Australia's retail electricity markets: An analysis of Victoria & Southeast Queensland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 92-103.
    6. Byrne, David P. & Martin, Leslie A., 2021. "Consumer search and income inequality," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Muyi Yang & Yuanying Chi & Kristy Mamaril & Adam Berry & Xunpeng Shi & Liming Zhu, 2020. "Communication-Based Approach for Promoting Energy Consumer Switching: Some Evidence from Ofgem’s Database Trials in the United Kingdom," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Stephen Littlechild, 2020. "The CMA’s assessment of customer detriment in the UK retail energy market," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 203-230, June.
    9. Brown, David P. & Eckert, Andrew, 2018. "The effect of default rates on retail competition and pricing decisions of competitive retailers: The case of Alberta," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 298-311.
    10. Xiaoping He & David Reiner, 2018. "Consumer Engagement in Energy Markets: The Role of Information and Knowledge," Working Papers EPRG 1835, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    11. Danias, Nikolaos & Swales, J. Kim, 2018. "The welfare impacts of discriminatory price tariffs," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 321-331.
    12. Tomasz Rokicki & Piotr Bórawski & Barbara Gradziuk & Piotr Gradziuk & Aldona Mrówczyńska-Kamińska & Joanna Kozak & Danuta Jolanta Guzal-Dec & Kamil Wojtczuk, 2021. "Differentiation and Changes of Household Electricity Prices in EU Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, October.
    13. Glenn Ellison, 2005. "A Model of Add-On Pricing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 585-637.
    14. Simshauser, Paul, 2021. "Vulnerable households and fuel poverty: Measuring the efficiency of policy targeting in Queensland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    15. Paul Simshauser and David Downer, 2016. "On the Inequity of Flat-rate Electricity Tariffs," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    16. Erdogan, Murside Rabia & Camgoz, Selin Metin & Karan, Mehmet Baha & Berument, M. Hakan, 2022. "The switching behavior of large-scale electricity consumers in The Turkish electricity retail market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    17. De Mel, S. & Munshi, K. & Reiche, S. & Sabourian, H., 2020. "Herding in Quality Assessment: An Application to Organ Transplantation," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2052, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    18. Brown, D.P. & Tsai, C.H. & Woo, C.K. & Zarnikau, J. & Zhu, S., 2020. "Residential electricity pricing in Texas's competitive retail market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    19. Jason Allen & Robert Clark & Jean-Fran?ois Houde, 2014. "The Effect of Mergers in Search Markets: Evidence from the Canadian Mortgage Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3365-3396, October.
    20. Marc Möller & Makoto Watanabe, 2016. "Competition in the presence of individual demand uncertainty," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 47(2), pages 273-292, May.

    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:eee:enepol:v:147:y:2020:i:c:s0301421520305462. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.