Power Cut?: How the EU is pulling the plug on electricity markets (Hobart Paperback)

By any measure, the privatisation and liberalisation of the UK energy industry was an enromous success. And yet the public are not convinced. As energy expert Carlo Stagnaro shows in this important book, the re-regulation of the market in the UK, together with policy developed at the EU level, has undermined all the important developments of the 1990s and early 2000s. The result has not only been poorer outcomes in the energy market but a very inefficient approach to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The EU has also only been partially successful in promoting liberalisation and competition in electricity markets and the time is ripe for change. The author shows how the EU must learn the lessons from the UK's successful recent past - and the UK must re-learn them. Therein lies the route to a competitive energy market that serves the ends of consumers rather than the ends of politicians and other interest groups.

Carlo Stagnaro is Senior Fellow of Istituto Bruno Leoni, of which he was Research and Studies Director until April 2014. He currently heads the technical secretariat of Italy’s Minister of Economic Development, Ms Federica Guidi. After graduating in Environmental Engineering at the University of Genoa, he achieved a PhD in Economics, Markets and Institutions from IMT Alti Studi - Lucca. His research interests are in the fields of energy economics, public service economics, and liberalisation and privatisation processes. His Twitter account is @CarloStagnaro. The ideas and opinions expressed in this monograph belong to the author alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions with which he may work or cooperate.