Overview

The UK has been at the forefront of the liberalisation of energy industries, privatising and then, over more than two decades, progressively ceding energy policy to market forces. Drawing a parallel between the effect of liberalisation on energy markets with the effect of liberalisation on financial markets, this book provides timely critical analyses of the impact of liberalisation on the UK's energy industries, both upstream and downstream. Divided into 16 chapters, it exposes why market fundamentalism has been controversial for the UK's oil, gas, coal, and electricity industries, each of which is addressed in specific chapters by authors with lengthy specialist experience. In the upstream, there are critical evaluations of the UK's petroleum fiscal regime, of the demise of the coal industry, of gas storage and wholesale markets, and of the electricity wholesale market. In the downstream, there are chapters on company strategies and power over consumers, fuel poverty, and the burden of regulation on companies. Together these two sections reveal why liberalisation has been costly and has resulted in higher prices for domestic consumers. The final section looks to the future. Are the UK's liberalised energy industries and markets equipped to deal with current and future challenges? How far does the market bring security of supply considerations into conflict with the environmental agenda? Can liberalised markets deliver more nuclear power, renewables, and CHP? How might EU policy change agendas in the UK? Whether we will need market redesign or more state control, is the question addressed by each author.

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9780199593002

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Ian Rutledge is an economist and historian with a special interest in energy. He is Director of SERIS (Sheffield Energy & Resources Information Services) and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the University of Sheffield's Management School. After a period working in the coal industry, his subsequent research has embraced the corporate structure of the world gas industry, petroleum fiscal regimes, the development of the US oil economy, and UK energy policy. As well as publishing a large number of articles in academic journals, national newspapers, and the energy industry press, he is author of Addicted to Oil: America's Relentless Drive for Energy Security. Philip Wright is Honorary Professor of Energy Policy and Economics at the University of Sheffield, Fellow of the UK's Energy Institute and a Senior Research Advisor at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Over more than two decades his research, publications, consultancy, and teaching have covered all energy industries and the companies which operate in them. As well as contributing a critical perspective on the liberalisation of gas and electricity industries, his recent work has also addressed the UK's oil and gas fiscal regime. His views and expertise have been sought by governmental organisations, major international companies, trade unions, and universities in Europe and Latin America. His book, Gas Prices in the UK: Markets and Insecurity of Supply, also published by OUP, pioneered understanding of the UK's gas market.

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