IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bcu/iefewp/iefewp49.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Liberalizing the Gas Industry: Take-or-Pay Contracts, Retail Competition and Wholesale Trade

Author

Listed:
  • Michele Polo
  • Carlo Scarpa

Abstract

This paper examines retail competition in a liberalized gas market. Vertically integrated firms run both wholesale activities (buying gas from the producers under take-or-pay obligations) and retail activities (selling gas to final customers). The market is decentralized and the firms decide which customers to serve, competing then in prices. We show that TOP clauses limit the incentives to face-to-face competition and determine segmentation and monopoly pricing even when entry of new competitors occurs. The development of wholesale trade, instead, may induce generalized entry and retail competition. This equilibrium outcome is obtained if a compulsory wholesale market is introduced, even when firms are vertically integrated, or under vertical separation of wholesale and retail activites when firms can use only linear bilateral contracts.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Polo & Carlo Scarpa, "undated". "Liberalizing the Gas Industry: Take-or-Pay Contracts, Retail Competition and Wholesale Trade," IEFE Working Papers 49, IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcu:iefewp:iefewp49
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec.unibocconi.it/iefe/bcu/papers/iefewp49.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allaz Blaise & Vila Jean-Luc, 1993. "Cournot Competition, Forward Markets and Efficiency," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Dixit, Avinash, 1980. "The Role of Investment in Entry-Deterrence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(357), pages 95-106, March.
    3. Mahenc, P. & Salanie, F., 2004. "Softening competition through forward trading," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 282-293, June.
    4. Steven C. Salop, 1979. "Monopolistic Competition with Outside Goods," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 141-156, Spring.
    5. Partha Dasgupta & Eric Maskin, 1986. "The Existence of Equilibrium in Discontinuous Economic Games, I: Theory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(1), pages 1-26.
    6. Vives, Xavier, 1986. "Commitment, flexibility and market outcomes," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 217-229, June.
    7. Masten, Scott E & Crocker, Keith J, 1985. "Efficient Adaptation in Long-term Contracts: Take-or-Pay Provisions for Natural Gas," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(5), pages 1083-1093, December.
    8. Rey, Patrick & Tirole, Jean, 2007. "A Primer on Foreclosure," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 33, pages 2145-2220, Elsevier.
    9. Hubbard, R Glenn & Weiner, Robert J, 1986. "Regulation and Long-term Contracting in U.S. Natural Gas Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 71-79, September.
    10. Marc Dudey, 1992. "Dynamic Edgeworth-Bertrand Competition," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1461-1477.
    11. Green, Richard J & Newbery, David M, 1992. "Competition in the British Electricity Spot Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 929-953, October.
    12. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5372 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Michele Polo & Carlo Scarpa, 2003. "The liberalization of energy markets in Europe and Italy," Working Papers 230, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    14. Klemperer, Paul D & Meyer, Margaret A, 1989. "Supply Function Equilibria in Oligopoly under Uncertainty," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(6), pages 1243-1277, November.
    15. Maggi, Giovanni, 1996. "Strategic Trade Policies with Endogenous Mode of Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 237-258, March.
    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. Basaure, Arturo & Suomi, Henna & Hämmäinen, Heikki, 2016. "Transaction vs. switching costs—Comparison of three core mechanisms for mobile markets," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 545-566.
    2. Miriello, Caterina & Polo, Michele, 2015. "The development of gas hubs in Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 177-190.
    3. Alessandro Fiorini & Antonio Sileo, 2013. "Infrastructural equip ment and regulati on. Key interv entions for sustaining security and development of the Italian natural gas market," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(1), pages 23-40.
    4. Silvia Concettini & Anna Creti, 2013. "Liberalization of electricity retailing in Europe: coming back or going forth?," Working Papers hal-00915924, HAL.
    5. Basaure, Arturo & Suomi, Henna & Hämmäinen, Heikki, 2014. "Effects of transaction and switching costs on mobile market performance," 20th ITS Biennial Conference, Rio de Janeiro 2014: The Net and the Internet - Emerging Markets and Policies 106830, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    6. Gavin, Sebnem & Ross, Thomas W., 2018. "Long-term contracts as barriers to entry with differentiated products," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 514-537.
    7. Laura DELPONTE & Maddalena SORRENTINO & Matteo TURRI & Daniela VANDONE, 2013. "The transformation of Milan's city energy enterprise in a leading national industrial group," CIRIEC Working Papers 1303, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    8. Anne Neumann & Sophia Rüster & Christian von Hirschhausen, 2015. "Long-Term Contracts in the Natural Gas Industry: Literature Survey and Data on 426 Contracts (1965-2014)," Data Documentation 77, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. del Valle, Aurora & Dueñas, Pablo & Wogrin, Sonja & Reneses, Javier, 2017. "A fundamental analysis on the implementation and development of virtual natural gas hubs," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 520-532.
    10. Suleman, Shafic, 2020. "Natural Gas Industry Restructuring for Value Optimisation: A Case Study of Ghana," MPRA Paper 99155, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Massimiliano Celli, 2016. "External VS. Internal Audit in the Accounting of Complex Contractual Instruments: A Survey on EU Firms," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(5), pages 1-22, April.

    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. Scarpa, Carlo & Polo, Michele, 2007. "Take or Pay Contracts and Market Segmentation," MPRA Paper 5861, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. James B. Bushnell & Erin T. Mansur & Celeste Saravia, 2008. "Vertical Arrangements, Market Structure, and Competition: An Analysis of Restructured US Electricity Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 237-266, March.
    3. Michele Polo & Carlo Scarpa, 2003. "Entry Without Competition," Working Papers 245, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    4. van Koten, Silvester & Ortmann, Andreas, 2013. "Structural versus behavioral remedies in the deregulation of electricity markets: An experimental investigation motivated by policy concerns," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 256-265.
    5. Fabra, Natalia & de Frutos, Maria-Angeles, 2008. "On the Impact of Forward Contract Obligations in Multi-Unit Auctions," CEPR Discussion Papers 6756, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Holmberg, Pär & Newbery, David, 2010. "The supply function equilibrium and its policy implications for wholesale electricity auctions," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 209-226, December.
    7. Moreno, Diego & Ubeda, Luis, 2006. "Capacity precommitment and price competition yield the Cournot outcome," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 323-332, August.
    8. Daron Acemoglu, Ali Kakhbod, and Asuman Ozdaglar, 2017. "Competition in Electricity Markets with Renewable Energy Sources," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(KAPSARC S).
    9. Paulo Cesar Coutinho & Andre Rossi de Oliveira, 2013. "Trading Forward in the Brazilian Electricity Market," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 3(3), pages 272-287.
    10. Perrels, Adriaan & Honkatukia, Juha & Mälkönen, Ville, 2006. "Impacts of the European Emission Trade System on Finnish Wholesale Electricity Prices," Discussion Papers 405, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Moritz Bohland & Sebastian Schwenen, 2020. "Technology Policy and Market Structure: Evidence from the Power Sector," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1856, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    12. MITRAILLE Sébastien & MOREAUX Michel, 2007. "Inventories and Endogenous Stackelberg Hierarchy in Two-period Cournot Oligopoly," LERNA Working Papers 07.02.223, LERNA, University of Toulouse.
    13. Fiuza de Bragança, Gabriel Godofredo & Daglish, Toby, 2016. "Can market power in the electricity spot market translate into market power in the hedge market?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 11-26.
    14. Holmberg, Pär & Newbery, David & Ralph, Daniel, 2013. "Supply function equilibria: Step functions and continuous representations," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(4), pages 1509-1551.
    15. Holmberg, Pär & Willems, Bert, 2015. "Relaxing competition through speculation: Committing to a negative supply slope," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 159(PA), pages 236-266.
    16. Boccard, Nicolas & Wauthy, Xavier, 2000. "Bertrand competition and Cournot outcomes: further results," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 279-285, September.
    17. Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin & Nicolas Drouhin, 2020. "A general model of price competition with soft capacity constraints," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 70(1), pages 95-120, July.
    18. Flavio M. Menezes & John Quiggin, 2023. "Competition in supply functions and conjectural variations: a unified solution," Australian Institute for Business and Economics DP012023, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    19. Willems, Bert & Rumiantseva, Ina & Weigt, Hannes, 2009. "Cournot versus Supply Functions: What does the data tell us?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 38-47, January.
    20. Vettas, Nikolaos & Biglaiser, Gary, 2004. "Dynamic Price Competition with Capacity Constraints and Strategic Buyers," CEPR Discussion Papers 4315, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entry; Segmentation; capacity constraints; wholesale markets.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bcu:iefewp:iefewp49. 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: Carlotta Milani (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eabocit.html .

    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.