IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v108y2017icp467-473.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pricing decisions and market power in the UK electricity market: A VECM approach

Author

Listed:
  • Amountzias, Chrysovalantis
  • Dagdeviren, Hulya
  • Patokos, Tassos

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of market power in the formation of retail and wholesale electricity prices in the UK over 1998–2012 on the basis of Vector Error Correction model (VECM). Market power is measured as the influence of the market share of the Big Six in a dynamic demand and supply VECM. The findings indicate that market power of the Big Six in the wholesale industry has a significant and large positive influence on the wholesale mark-up in the short-run. The long-run estimates support the arguments about ‘revenue rebalancing’ resulting from vertical integration. That is, low market power (and hence low revenues) in the wholesale industry leads to higher prices (hence higher revenues) in the retail industry. These findings are in contrast to the CMA's finding that no market power is exercised in the wholesale industry. Retail electricity prices are affected directly by both the wholesale and retail market concentration ratios in the long-run rather than indirectly through the wholesale mark-up. Overall, the findings in this paper provide support for the view that the UK electricity market exhibits significant anti-competitive conduct in both the retail and wholesale segments.

Suggested Citation

  • Amountzias, Chrysovalantis & Dagdeviren, Hulya & Patokos, Tassos, 2017. "Pricing decisions and market power in the UK electricity market: A VECM approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 467-473.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:108:y:2017:i:c:p:467-473
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.06.016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517303701
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.06.016?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. Salies, E. & Waddams Price, C., 2003. "Pricing Structures in the Deregulated UK Electricity Market," Working Papers 03/04, Department of Economics, City University London.
    2. Evens Salies and Catherine Waddams Price, 2004. "Charges, Costs and Market Power: the Deregulated UK Electricity Retail Market," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 19-36.
    3. Michael Olive, 2008. "Scale economies with regard to price adjustment costs and the speed of price adjustment in Australian manufacturing," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 63-75.
    4. Monica Giulietti & Jesus Otero & Michael Waterson, 2010. "Pricing behaviour under competition in the UK electricity supply industry," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 62(3), pages 478-503, July.
    5. Woo, Chi-Keung & Lloyd, Debra & Tishler, Asher, 2003. "Electricity market reform failures: UK, Norway, Alberta and California," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(11), pages 1103-1115, September.
    6. Green, Richard, 2006. "Market power mitigation in the UK power market," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 76-89, June.
    7. Lütkepohl,Helmut & Krätzig,Markus (ed.), 2004. "Applied Time Series Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521547871.
    8. Evens Salies, 2008. "Mergers in the GB electricity market: effects on retail charges," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(11), pages 1483-1490.
    9. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/7172 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Otero, Jesus & Waddams Price, Catherine, 2001. "Price Discrimination, Regulation and Entry in the UK Residential Electricity Market," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 161-175, July.
    11. Catherine Waddams Price, 2005. "The Effect of Liberalizing UK Retail Energy Markets on Consumers," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(1), pages 128-144, Spring.
    12. Engle, Robert & Granger, Clive, 2015. "Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 39(3), pages 106-135.
    13. Ewing, Bradley T. & Payne, James E. & Caporin, Massimilano, 2022. "The Asymmetric Impact of Oil Prices and Production on Drilling Rig Trajectory: A correction," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Macatangay, Rafael Emmanuel A., 2001. "Market definition and dominant position abuse under the new electricity trading arrangements in England and Wales," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 337-340, April.
    15. David M. Newbery & Michael G. Pollitt, 1997. "The Restructuring and Privatisation of Britain's CEGB—Was It Worth It?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 269-303, September.
    16. Boroumand, Raphaël Homayoun, 2015. "Electricity markets and oligopolistic behaviors: The impact of a multimarket structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 319-333.
    17. Cheung, Yin-Wong & Lai, Kon S, 1993. "Finite-Sample Sizes of Johansen's Likelihood Ration Tests for Conintegration," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 55(3), pages 313-328, August.
    18. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7189 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Andrew Sweeting, 2007. "Market Power In The England And Wales Wholesale Electricity Market 1995-2000," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(520), pages 654-685, April.
    20. Olsen, Ole Jess & Johnsen, Tor Arnt & Lewis, Philip, 2006. "A Mixed Nordic Experience: Implementing Competitive Retail Electricity Markets for Household Customers," The Electricity Journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(9), pages 37-44, November.
    21. Giulietti, Monica & Grossi, Luigi & Waterson, Michael, 2010. "Price transmission in the UK electricity market: Was NETA beneficial?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1165-1174, September.
    22. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/7189 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Johansen, Soren, 1992. "Determination of Cointegration Rank in the Presence of a Linear Trend," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 54(3), pages 383-397, August.
    24. Bunn, Derek W. & Martoccia, Maria, 2005. "Unilateral and collusive market power in the electricity pool of England and Wales," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 305-315, March.
    25. Kremers, Jeroen J M & Ericsson, Neil R & Dolado, Juan J, 1992. "The Power of Cointegration Tests," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 54(3), pages 325-348, August.
    26. Dickey, David A & Fuller, Wayne A, 1981. "Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 1057-1072, June.
    27. Toke, David, 2011. "UK Electricity Market Reform—revolution or much ado about nothing?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7609-7611.
    28. Catherine D. Wolfram, 1999. "Measuring Duopoly Power in the British Electricity Spot Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 805-826, September.
    29. Granger, C. W. J. & Newbold, P., 1974. "Spurious regressions in econometrics," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 111-120, July.
    30. Defeuilley, Christophe, 2009. "Retail competition in electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 377-386, February.
    31. Lütkepohl,Helmut & Krätzig,Markus (ed.), 2004. "Applied Time Series Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521839198.
    32. Moutinho, Victor & Moreira, António C. & Mota, Jorge, 2014. "Do regulatory mechanisms promote competition and mitigate market power? Evidence from Spanish electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 403-412.
    33. Johansen, Søren & Juselius, Katarina, 1992. "Testing structural hypotheses in a multivariate cointegration analysis of the PPP and the UIP for UK," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1-3), pages 211-244.
    34. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7172 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. Monica Giulietti & Catherine Waddams Price & Michael Waterson, 2005. "Consumer Choice and Competition Policy: a Study of UK Energy Markets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(506), pages 949-968, October.
    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. Abbasi, Kashif Raza & Hussain, Khadim & Redulescu, Magdalena & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2021. "Does natural resources depletion and economic growth achieve the carbon neutrality target of the UK? A way forward towards sustainable development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Farrell, Niall, 2021. "The increasing cost of ignoring Coase: Inefficient electricity tariffs, welfare loss and welfare-reducing technological change," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    3. Monios, Jason, 2019. "Geographies of governance in the freight transport sector: The British case," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 295-308.
    4. Yang, Changjiang & Yan, Xiaoxuan, 2023. "Impact of carbon tariffs on price competitiveness in the era of global value chain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    5. George E. Halkos & Apostolos S. Tsirivis, 2023. "Electricity Prices in the European Union Region: The Role of Renewable Energy Sources, Key Economic Factors and Market Liberalization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-20, March.
    6. Rintamäki, Tuomas & Siddiqui, Afzal S. & Salo, Ahti, 2020. "Strategic offering of a flexible producer in day-ahead and intraday power markets," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(3), pages 1136-1153.
    7. Bigerna, Simona & Bollino, Carlo Andrea & D'Errico, Maria Chiara & Polinori, Paolo, 2022. "COVID-19 lockdown and market power in the Italian electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    8. Simona Bigerna & Carlo Andrea Bollino & Maria Chiara D’Errico & Paolo Polinori, 2023. "A new design for market power monitoring in the electricity market. A simulation for Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(1), pages 285-317, April.
    9. Ankrah, Isaac & Lin, Boqiang, 2020. "Renewable energy development in Ghana: Beyond potentials and commitment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    10. Szőke, Tamás & Hortay, Olivér & Balogh, Eszter, 2019. "Asymmetric price transmission in the Hungarian retail electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    11. Pradhan, Ashis Kumar & Rout, Sandhyarani & Khan, Imran Ahmed, 2021. "Does market concentration affect wholesale electricity prices? An analysis of the Indian electricity sector in the COVID-19 pandemic context," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Zhao, Xueyuan & Gao, Weijun & Qian, Fanyue & Ge, Jian, 2021. "Electricity cost comparison of dynamic pricing model based on load forecasting in home energy management system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    13. Karol Tucki & Olga Orynycz & Andrzej Wasiak & Antoni Świć & Wojciech Dybaś, 2019. "Capacity Market Implementation in Poland: Analysis of a Survey on Consequences for the Electricity Market and for Energy Management," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, March.
    14. Abdelrahim A. M. Yahia & Ismaeel A. M. Ahmed & Nada R. A. ALhassan, 2021. "How Does the Degree of Export Dependence Affect Chinas Clean Drinking Water?," Asian Journal of Economic Modelling, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(2), pages 179-198, June.

    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. Levent KORAP, 2008. "Exchange Rate Determination Of Tl/Us$:A Co-Integration Approach," Istanbul University Econometrics and Statistics e-Journal, Department of Econometrics, Faculty of Economics, Istanbul University, vol. 7(1), pages 24-50, May.
    2. Adu, Raymond & Litsios, Ioannis & Baimbridge, Mark, 2019. "Real exchange rate and asymmetric shocks in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ)," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 232-249.
    3. Carmen M. Reinhart, 1995. "Devaluation, Relative Prices, and International Trade: Evidence from Developing Countries," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 42(2), pages 290-312, June.
    4. van Lent, L.A.G.M., 1999. "Incomplete contracting theory in empirical accounting research," Other publications TiSEM 088f797d-9fa4-4081-98f4-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Khurram Ashfaq Baluch & Syed Kalim Hyder Bukhari, 2012. "Price and Income Elasticity of Imports: The Case of Pakistan," SBP Working Paper Series 48, State Bank of Pakistan, Research Department.
    6. Fahmida Khatun & Syed Yusuf Saadat & Md. Kamruzzaman, 2019. "FINANCE FOR SDGs: Addressing Governance Challenge of Aid Utilisation in Bangladesh," CPD Working Paper 125, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
    7. Fahmida Khatun & Syed Yusuf Saadat, 2020. "Fourth Industrial Revolution, Technological Advancement and Youth Employment: A South Asian Perspective," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 21(1), pages 58-75, March.
    8. Jorge Dresdner & Leonardo Letelier, 1997. "Cointegración de los Salarios Agregados en Chile: 1980-3-1995-3," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 34(101), pages 49-70.
    9. Kaminski, Jermain & Hopp, Christian & Tykvová, Tereza, 2019. "New technology assessment in entrepreneurial financing – Does crowdfunding predict venture capital investments?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 287-302.
    10. Algieri, Bernardina, 2013. "A Roller Coaster Ride: an empirical investigation of the main drivers of wheat price," Discussion Papers 145556, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    11. Fahmida Khatun & Syed Yusuf Saadat, 2022. "The Optimum Level of Income Inequality in South Asia: An Econometric Analysis," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 23(1), pages 7-29, March.
    12. Fahmida Khatun & Syed Yusuf Saadat, 2019. "Governance and Competitiveness: An Econometric Analysis of the Banking Sector of Bangladesh," Journal of Statistical and Econometric Methods, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 8(4), pages 1-4.
    13. W A Razzak & Thomas Grennes, 1998. "The long-run nominal exchange rate: specification and estimation issues," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper Series G98/5, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
    14. Levent, Korap, 2007. "Modeling purchasing power parity using co-integration: evidence from Turkey," MPRA Paper 19584, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Grau, Aaron Stephan Alexander & Hockmann, Heinrich, 2017. "Estimating oligopsony power on two vertically integrated markets," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 261277, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Usman Qamar Sheikh & Muhammad Zafar Iqbal & Hafiz Khalil Ahmad, 2016. "The Impact of Foreign Aid, Energy Production and Human Capital on Income Inequality: A Case Study of Pakistan," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 5(1), pages 1-9, March.
    17. de Meulemeester, Jean-Luc & Rochat, Denis, 1995. "A causality analysis of the link between higher education and economic development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 351-361, December.
    18. Efimova, Olga & Serletis, Apostolos, 2014. "Energy markets volatility modelling using GARCH," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 264-273.
    19. Carlos Alberto Barreto Nieto & Jacobo Campo Robledo, 2012. "Relación a largo plazo entre consumo de energía y PIB en América Latina: Una evaluación empírica con datos panel," Revista Ecos de Economía, Universidad EAFIT, October.
    20. Daglish, Toby, 2015. "Consumer Governance in Electricity Markets," Working Paper Series 4183, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.

    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:108:y:2017:i:c:p:467-473. 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.