Policy Brief 

This issue of Network Industries Quarterly focuses on the question of consumer involvement in the regulation of the network industries, a topic we have not addressed so far. The issue features four unique contributions, all especially written for this issue. They are based on presentations made by the four authors during the ACCC/AER Regulatory Conference 2013 held in Brisbane on July 25th and 26th 2013, and whose special focus was precisely on “Consumer involvement and pricing”. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for having organized such an interesting conference and the authors for having agreed to write up their presentations for this newsletter.

Critical Infrastructure Protection in Network Industries Recent disasters evidence that failures in key infrastructures may result in severe economic, environmental, and social losses, even human casualties. Therefore, it’s not a surprise that governments worldwide...

Regulation and Performance of Electronic Communications As known, the Digital Agenda for Europe contains 101 actions that will boost the EU economy and allow citizens and businesses to take the most out of digital technologies. While in some pillars a number of the...

Trends in EU energy grids regulation Which regulatory tools are best equipped on the national as well as European level to create functioning EU-wide electricity and gas market infrastructures, as well as address the urgent need to make grids fit for the future? This...

The use of concession agreements to provide public services in the different network industries has been growing over the past decades around the world, mainly as a way to facilitate private investment. Motorways, seaports, water and sewage, among other sectors, have gained experience in the use of these instruments and some important lessons have been learned. The articles in this issue highlight some of the most relevant considerations in the use of concession contracts, their advantages and disadvantages compared to the traditional public provision, the implications for institutional design, the way of dealing with new investments during the contract period, and how to introduce performance clauses.