The US Has Implemented Ownership Unbundling in Gas, but Failed To Unbundle Power Transmission - Utilities Market Drivers: Policy & Regulation 2006.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c42838) has announced the addition of Utilities Market Drivers: Policy & Regulation to their offering

Policy and regulatory issues have a profound impact on utility markets. The EU and US differ greatly in their approaches to market liberalization, wholesale market development, security of supply and the environment. Understanding how the key issues will evolve requires a nuanced appreciation of these varied regulatory approaches.

Scope of this title:

* An examination of the pace and nature of retail market liberalization measures in gas and power, in both the EU and US.

* An examination of wholesale market development in gas and power, including a review of regional transmission organization development in the US.

* An analysis and projection of the security of supply focus of power markets in both the US and EU.

* An assessment of current measures to meet environmental obligations, from metering initiatives to carbon trading schemes.

Highlights of this title:

* Effective wholesale markets require independent transmission systems. The EU has succeeded in implementing legal unbundling of transmission operators for gas and power. The US has implemented ownership unbundling in gas, but failed to unbundle power transmission. Investigations in 2006 have shown that discriminatory practices in the US remain.

* The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is heavily focused on investigations of potential price collusion in the petroleum industry, and is not focused on liberalization in the power and gas sector. In fact, in stark contrast to the situation in the EU, the US government has pushed parts of competition oversight to the regulatory level.

* The US federal government has required public utilities to install smart meters, but will not impose similar requirements on investor-owned utilities. In contrast the EU has a May 2008 deadline for time-of-use metering in gas and power that applies to all utilities. Some countries, such as Italy, are already leaders in smart meter implementation.

Reasons to read this report:

* Understand retail market opening and wholesale market development timelines and dynamics in the EU and US.

* Project how European and American generation capacity will change in response to security of supply concerns.

* Understand the major energy efficiency and carbon reduction initiatives in the US and EU.

The Contents inside this report include:

Author's View

Catalyst

Policy and regulation are together one of the fundamental drivers of utility markets.

Summary

Methodology

Analysis

List of Figures

Figure 1: Summary Market Competitive Intensity (MCI) Power Scores

Figure 2: Summary Market Competitive Intensity (MCI) Gas Scores

Figure 3: The US government has tried but failed to impose a consistent policy/legislative framework for electricity infrastructure

Figure 4: Wholesale power market development in the US is patchy 

Figure 5: Retail competition for gas supply differs from state to state

Figure 6: The composition of US primary energy consumption will remain fairly constant

Figure 7: The US relies heavily on nuclear and coal in the power industry, and this is not likely to change post-EPAct 2005

Figure 8: The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is a cap-and-trade carbon emissions market designed as Europes key tool to meet Kyoto obligations

Figure 9: The US has a head-start over the EU in NOx and SOx reduction initiatives.

Figure 10: The MCI Index is calculated by deriving a weighted average of scores over 9 key metrics divided into three distinct categories

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c42838

Source: Datamonitor