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Energy
Author(s) -
Bertram Geoff
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
asia pacific viewpoint
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.571
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8373
pISSN - 1360-7456
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8373.00137
Subject(s) - restructuring , electricity , coal , natural gas , maturity (psychological) , monopoly , economics , market economy , business , energy market , economy , industrial organization , political science , engineering , finance , electrical engineering , law , waste management
The 1990s was a decade in which radical institutional restructuring was imposed from above on an energy economy which was in a stage of stable maturity following half a century of rapid development. The key plank in the reforms was the withdrawal of the state from ownership of energy production where possible (natural gas and parts of electricity), and from any non‐commercial philosophy in relation to the electricity and coal enterprises which remained state‐owned. Regulation of natural monopoly elements (pipelines, transmission and distribution lines, processing plants) was virtually eliminated under the rubric of ‘light‐handed regulation’, and the scheduling of electricity generators was moved from a planned to a market system. Underlying real trends in energy intensity, production and use were unaffected by the reforms, and the expected efficiency gains which had motivated reform were not in evidence by the end of the decade.