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Yardstick Regulation of Electricity Distribution Disentangling Short-run and Long-run Inefficiencies

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  • Subal C. Kumbhakar
  • Gudbrand Lien

Abstract

In this paper we estimate the short-run, long-run and overall efficiency of Norwegian electricity distribution companies for the period 2000-2013 controlling for both noise and company effects. Short-run inefficiency is the part of inefficiency that is allowed to adjust freely over time for each company, but long-run (persistent) inefficiency remains constant over time, although it is allowed to vary across companies. For robustness check we also consider two additional models in which either company effects are not controlled or these are treated as inefficiency. The production technology is represented by a translog input distance function in all three models. We find that technical change and returns to scale are quite robust across the models. However, the efficiency scores across the three models we consider are not correlated strongly. We conclude that the regulators and practitioners should take extra caution in using the proper model in practice, especially when the efficiency measures are used to reward/punish companies through incentives for better performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Subal C. Kumbhakar & Gudbrand Lien, 2017. "Yardstick Regulation of Electricity Distribution Disentangling Short-run and Long-run Inefficiencies," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 5).
    • Handle: RePEc:aen:journl:ej38-5-lien
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    2. Zhang, Qizheng & Qian, Zesen & Wang, Shuo & Yuan, Lingran & Gong, Binlei, 2022. "Productivity drain or productivity gain? The effect of new technology adoption in the oilfield market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    3. Maria Molinos-Senante & Alexandros Maziotis, 2022. "Decomposition of Cost Efficiency Into Persistent and Transient Efficiency in the Provision of Water Services: Evidence from England and Wales," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(6), pages 1849-1862, April.
    4. Hou, Zheng & Roseta-Palma, Catarina & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S., 2024. "Can operational efficiency in the Portuguese electricity sector be improved? Yes, but..," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    5. Baños-Pino, José F. & Boto-García, David & Zapico, Emma, 2021. "Persistence and dynamics in the efficiency of toll motorways: The Spanish case," Efficiency Series Papers 2021/03, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    6. Baños-Pino, José F. & Boto-García, David & Zapico, Emma, 2022. "Persistence and dynamics in the efficiency of toll motorways: The Spanish case," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    7. Just, Lisa & Wetzel, Heike, 2020. "Distributed Generation and Cost Efficiency of German Electricity Distribution Network Operators," EWI Working Papers 2020-9, Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI).
    8. Tommy Lundgren & Mattias Vesterberg, 2024. "Efficiency in electricity distribution in Sweden and the effects of small-scale generation, electric vehicles and dynamic tariffs," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 121-137, October.
    9. Oleg Badunenko & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2020. "Energy Intensity and Long- and Short-Term Efficiency in US Manufacturing Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, August.
    10. Kamil Makie{l}a & B{l}a.zej Mazur, 2020. "Stochastic Frontier Analysis with Generalized Errors: inference, model comparison and averaging," Papers 2003.07150, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2020.
    11. Lukáš Čechura & Zdeňka Žáková Kroupová, 2021. "Technical Efficiency in the European Dairy Industry: Can We Observe Systematic Failures in the Efficiency of Input Use?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    12. Kumbhakar,Subal C. & Loayza,Norman V. & Norambuena,Vivian, 2020. "International Benchmarking for Country Economic Diagnostics : A Stochastic Frontier Approach," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9304, The World Bank.
    13. Subal C. Kumbhakar & Norman V. Loayza & Vivian Norambuena, 2020. "International Benchmarking for Country Economic Diagnostics," Working Papers wp498, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    14. Amjadi, Golnaz & Lundgren, Tommy, 2022. "Is industrial energy inefficiency transient or persistent? Evidence from Swedish manufacturing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    15. Vesterberg, Mattias & Zhou, Wenchao & Lundgren, Tommy, 2021. "Wind of change: Small-scale electricity production and distribution-grid efficiency in Sweden," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    16. Pontus Mattsson & Jonas Månsson & William H. Greene, 2020. "TFP change and its components for Swedish manufacturing firms during the 2008–2009 financial crisis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 79-93, February.
    17. Dorgyles C.M. Kouakou, 2022. "Separating innovation short-run and long-run technical efficiencies: Evidence from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 19(1), pages 103-141, June.
    18. Bu, Lin-Lan & Kopsakangas-Savolainen, Maria & Xie, Bai-Chen & Li, Hong-Zhou & Liu, Yi-Meng & Yin, Shao-Peng, 2024. "Has benchmarking improved the performance of the Australian electricity distribution utilities? A meta-frontier model," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    19. Pontus Mattsson & Jonas Mansson & William H. Greene, 2018. "TFP Change and its Components for Swedish Manufacturing Firms During the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis," Working Papers 18-27, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.

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