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on Regulation |
| By: | Ndebele, T.; Marsh, D. |
| Abstract: | The retail electricity market in New Zealand is evolving as the government continues to promote the development of a competitive and efficient market. Encouraging consumer switching through the “What’s My Number” campaign is expected to put pressure on electricity retailers to reduce prices. Recent reports indicate that relatively few customers have switched supplier in the past two years despite potential average savings of NZ$165 per year per household. This suggests that non-price factors are also important determinants of switching behavior. We use choice experiments to investigate residential consumers’ preferences for the attributes of electricity suppliers and the possible role of attitudes in explaining preference heterogeneity among the sampled respondents. Data required for the study was collected through a web survey administered to an online panel of bill payers in New Zealand. Willingness to pay (WTP) is estimated for attributes of electricity suppliers such as renewable portfolio, local ownership, discount rates, fixed rate plan, loyalty rewards and supplier type. WTP estimates indicate the importance of the attributes and hence provide guidance to suppliers in designing their price and service offers. Knowledge of how attitudes influence switching behavior may inform future policy directed at stimulating competition in the retail market. |
| Keywords: | electricity suppliers, environmental attitude, choice experiments, latent class model, willingness to pay, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar13:160417&r=reg |
| By: | Joseph V. Spadaro; Sérgio H. Faria; Anil Markandya |
| Abstract: | The transportation sector is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around one-quarter of current annual emissions. Surface transportation (passenger vehicles, buses, rail, and freight transportation) contributes 75% of total emissions, with the remaining 25% allocated equally between air and water transport. According to the recently released 5th Assessment Report of the IPCC (September 2013), the transportation sector is expected to grow significantly in future years, particularly in rapidly developing countries around the world, and will therefore be one of a few key drivers of increasing global warming. Unless there is a major political effort and consumer willingness to change current energy consumption patterns and travel modes over the next few decades, transport-related emissions are likely to double by 2050 relative to levels observed in 2010. Because of the contribution of transportation to climate change and its impact on urban air quality, a comparative assessment of potential carbon emission reductions and health benefits of reduced particulate matter emissions was undertaken considering several low carbon pathways for development of the urban road transport sector up to 2050. As a result, we conclude that aggressive changes will be needed to scale back future emissions by 20% (or more) compared to present day emissions. These changes will impact vehicle fuel economy (+50%), urban mobility patterns (lower private car demand and greater use of public transportation), choice of alternative fuels (less use of petroleum-based fuels and greater use of biofuels and electrons) and electricity generation mix (greater use of renewables, carbon capture technologies for limiting fossil fuel carbon emissions, and/or nuclear energy). Public acceptance is fundamental to bring about changes in consumer attitudes and behaviour. Given the long lead times required for research, development, demonstration and deployment of new technologies, the time to act is now if we are to limit the global mean surface temperature increase to within 2°C above preindustrial levels. |
| Keywords: | transportation; biofuels; climate change; low carbon pathways; carbon price; electricity decarbonisation; health impacts; DALY. |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcc:wpaper:2013-14&r=reg |
| By: | R. Richard Geddes; Dimitar N. Nentchev |
| Abstract: | The United States faces major challenges related to the funding of transportation infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and tunnels. Pricing existing roads generates substantial additional revenue while adjusting traffic demand to meet market conditions. The approach proposed here uses the value embedded in US infrastructure to increase the political feasibility of road pricing. |
| Keywords: | transportation,traffic,Road Use Fees,infrastructure |
| JEL: | A |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aei:rpaper:39627&r=reg |
| By: | Quaas, Martin F.; Stoeven, Max T. |
| Abstract: | Renewable resources provide society with resource rent and surpluses for resource users (the processing industry, consumers) and owners of production factors (capital and labor employed in resource harvesting). We show that resource users and factor owners may favor inefficiently high harvest rates up to open-access levels. This may explain why public resource management is often very inefficient. We further show that privatizing inefficiently managed resources would cause losses for resource users and factor owners, unless (a) the stock is severely depleted and (b) the discount rate is low. We quantify our results for the Northeast Arctic Cod fishery -- |
| Keywords: | resource rent,consumer surplus,worker surplus,distribution,political economy |
| JEL: | Q28 D33 D72 Q57 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cauewp:201202r&r=reg |