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Ownership unbundling of natural gas transmission networks: empirical evidence

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  • Christian Growitsch
  • Marcus Stronzik

Abstract

The European Commission has intensively examined the mandatory separation of natural gas transmission from production and services. However, economic theory is ambiguous on the price effects of vertical separation. In this paper, we empirically analyze the effect of ownership unbundling of gas transmission networks, considered to be the strongest form of vertical separation, on the level of end-user prices. Therefore, we apply different dynamic estimators such as system GMM and the bias-corrected least-squares dummy variable estimator to an unbalanced panel consisting of 18 EU countries over 19 years, allowing us to avoid the endogeneity problem and to estimate the long-run effects of regulation. We introduce a set of regulatory indicators as market entry regulation, ownership structure, vertical separation and market structure, as well as account for structural and economic country specifics. Among the different estimators, we consistently find that ownership unbundling has no impact on natural gas end-user prices, while the more modest legal unbundling reduces them significantly. Furthermore, third-party access, market structure and privatization show significant influence, with the latter leading to higher prices. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

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  • Christian Growitsch & Marcus Stronzik, 2014. "Ownership unbundling of natural gas transmission networks: empirical evidence," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 207-225, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:regeco:v:46:y:2014:i:2:p:207-225
    DOI: 10.1007/s11149-014-9252-0
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    Cited by:

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    2. Iweta Opolska, 2016. "Liberalisation of the gas industry in Europe.Does the European Union support efficacious regulatory solutions?," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 44.
    3. Nicole Herweg & Stefan Wurster & Kathrin Dümig, 2018. "The European Natural Gas Market Reforms Revisited: Differentiating between Regulatory Output and Outcome," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-19, April.
    4. Philipp Steinbrunner, 2023. "I want a quiet life! On productivity and competition in the Central European energy sector," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(2), pages 403-428, April.
    5. António Brandão & Joana Pinho & Joana Resende & Paula Sarmento & Isabel Soares, 2016. "Welfare effects of unbundling under different regulatory regimes in natural gas markets," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 15(2), pages 99-127, August.
    6. Sven Heim, Bastian Krieger, and Mario Liebensteiner, 2020. "Unbundling, Regulation, and Pricing: Evidence from Electricity Distribution," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Special I).
    7. del-Río, Belén & Fernández-Sainz, Ana & Martinez de Alegria, Itziar, 2019. "Industrial electricity prices in the European Union following restructuring: A comparative panel-data analysis," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Hyland, Marie, 2016. "Restructuring European electricity markets – A panel data analysis," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 33-42.
    9. Rabindra Nepal & John Foster & Antonio Carvalho, 2014. "Revisiting Electricity Liberalization and Security of Supply: Empirical Evidence," Energy Economics and Management Group Working Papers 7-2014, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    10. Summanen, Tuomo & Arminen, Heli, 2018. "Ownership unbundling in electricity distribution: The Russian experience," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 1199-1210.
    11. Andrea Bastianin & Paolo Castelnovo & Massimo Florio, 2017. "The Empirics of Regulatory Reforms Proxied by Categorical Variables: Recent Findings and Methodological Issues," Working Papers 2017.22, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Natural gas; Networks; Regulation; Ownership unbundling; Panel data; L95; L43; C23;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities
    • L43 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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