Twenty years of RPI-X

This one-off occasion brings together a glittering array of economic regulators from water, energy, and rail.

Speakers have each been asked to address a particular question. Many of these topics are controversial so Chatham House rules will apply.



Speakers are:-
■ Sir Christopher Bellamy
President of the Competition Appeals tribunal
■ Chris Bolt
Chairman, Office of Rail Regulation
■ Alistair Buchanan
Chief Executive, Ofgem
■ Professor Martin Cave
University of Warwick Business School,
Adviser to Ofcom, Non-Executive Director, Ofwat
■ Dieter Helm
Director of Oxera – Government adviser on energy
■ Philip Fletcher
Director General of Water Services, Ofwat
■ Professor Stephen Littlechild
Former Electricity Regulator and “father”
of RPI-X regulation
Chairman
Chris Talbot
Partner and Head of Regulation,
Hammonds

Common yet Different

The utilities - water, energy, telecoms and rail -
have much in common as well as their individual distinguishing and unique characteristics. Economic regulation has become an academic discipline in its own right and one in which the UK is seen as the leading edge – or should we say frontier? – exponent.

The issues

There are significant tensions caused by:
■ Regulation and Competition law – particularly as
infl uenced by Brussels.
■ Different and evolving sectoral regulatory models.
■ Environmental/social demands versus economic
realities in these days of $50 oil and decreasing North Sea gas


All the above are complex and fascinating. But a number of fundamental questions remain unanswered:
■ Can economic regulation really replicate the
safeguards of competition?
■ How can the long-term investment necessary to build national infrastructures best be financed?
■ Why should the Cost of Capital vary across sectors?
■ Have we really the will – and the financing - to
develop sustainable communities in the face of
climate change and limited natural resources?