Publications
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Water, the Environment and Regulation: Changing Functions, Changing Frameworks
20th February 2005
The objectives in privatising the water industry were multiple. The then Conservative government considered that the private sector was inherently more efficient than the public sector, that share ownership could be widened and deepened by selling monopoly utilities, and that the constraints on public sector investment could be relaxed in the private sector.
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The Assessment: The New Energy Paradigm
1st February 2005
Published in Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 21(1), 1-18. During the 1980s and 1990s, energy policy concentrated on privatisation, liberalisation, and competition, in response to the underlying conditions of excess supply and low fossil fuels. These conditions changed around 2000, in response to the coincidence of a structural upward shift in oil prices, the aging of the assets, network failures, and greater import dependency. The focus moved from asset sweating towards investment, and has...
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Consumers, Citizens and Members: Public Service Broadcasting and the BBC
21st January 2005
Dieter Helm's chapter from the BBC book 'Can the Market Deliver? Funding Public Service Television in the Digital Age', published January 2005 by John Libbey Publishing, pp. 1-21.
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Comments on Terms of Reference for the 2005-06 Review of the Renewables Obligation
20th August 2004
The review of the Renewables Obligation (RO) is an important opportunity to take stock of the renewables policy and its contribution to the ambitious climate change objectives for 2010, 2020 and 2050.
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Water: The Periodic Review 2004 and the Environmental Programme
13th February 2004
Memorandum of Evidence submitted to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee. The periodic review of the water industry sets prices for the next five years. These prices should produce sufficient revenues to finance the functions of the water companies.
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Energy, the State, and the Market: British Energy Policy Since 1979
1st February 2004
Revised edition, published February 2004 by Oxford University Press. A major study of the new market approach to energy policy in Britain since 1979. This revised paperback edition includes a new chapter on the recent development of the low-carbon policy, as well as updated discussions on the collapse of British Energy, new approaches to price reviews, and emission trading.
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Comments on Defra/DTI Consultation Paper 'Sustainable Consumption and Production Indicators'
8th January 2004
This comment is divided into two parts: 1. The analytical approach; 2. Answers to the five questions posed in the consultation paper.
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The New Regulatory Agenda
1st January 2004
Published by the Social Market Foundation, January 2004. Regulation in Britain has grown gradually and continuously since the privatisations of the 1980s and 1990s. Its growth has been unplanned, but has now reached a critical mass, attracting widespread criticism for its costs. The recent failures in railways and concerns about energy networks and the condition of water systems have added to the sense of unease.
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A Risky Business
25th November 2003
Published in Persuader Magazine/Civitas, November 2003. For the last two decades, Britain has had abundant energy supplies. In addition to coal, there has been the North Sea oil and gas. Energy has been cheap. Oil prices have been low and energy demand growth has been subdued.
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Benefit Assessment: Concluding Remarks
15th November 2003
Publication by the The Environment Agency. The papers in this volume reflect the considerable effort which the EA has brought to bear on the 2004 periodic review. Progress has been considerable, and reflects a substantial shift in thinking in the EA.