A Comparative Overview of the Unbundling of Gas Distribution Services in North America -- Lessons for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
In: Alberta Law Review, Jg. 38 (2000-06-01), S. 1
Online
academicJournal
I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND A. INTRODUCTION In the mid-1980s, the primary focus of energy policy discussions turned from the issue of security of supply, which had dominated since the early 1970s, to an emphasis on competition in energy markets. This change in focus was generally attributable to the deregulation philosophy of the Reagan administration and, more particularly, to the easing of supply shortages in energy markets in the mid-1980s with concomitant price declines, the unforeseen stagnation of energy consumption growth in many industrialized countries, and over-capacity problems. While competition is common among energy sources such as oil and coal, the constraints of "network-bound energy systems" such as electric and gas supply systems had until relatively recently impeded any real competition. 1 Over the past several years, almost every local distribution company ("LDC") in North America has established unbundled transportation rates enabling industrial and large commercial customers to purchase their gas supplies on the competitive market. This innovation has resulted in significant savings for those customers. With that success, the focus of unbundling has turned to small commercial and residential customers. However, it is not certain if unbundling will benefit small customers. Critics question whether residential customers, or their agents, will be able to procure supplies and upstream pipeline capacity at lower costs than an LDC. They suggest that transaction costs for these low-load, high-reliability customers may significantly impair the chance of savings being realized. 2 In this article, the authors have canvassed the key issues related ...
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A Comparative Overview of the Unbundling of Gas Distribution Services in North America -- Lessons for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Bhar, Elizabeth L. |
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Zeitschrift: | Alberta Law Review, Jg. 38 (2000-06-01), S. 1 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2000 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
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