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Book Cover
Book
Author Ernst, John, 1951-

Title Whose utility? : the social impact of public utility privatization and regulation in Britain / John Ernst
Published Buckingham [England] ; Philadelphia : Open University Press, 1994

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  363.60941 Ern/Wut  AVAILABLE
Description x, 225 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Series Public policy and management
Public policy and management.
Contents 1. The process and structure of public utility privatization in Britain -- 2. Public utilities services, public policy and regulation -- 3. Objectives and outcomes of the privatization of public utilities -- 4. Prices and tariff structures -- 5. The management of debt and disconnection -- 6. Consumer protection and representation -- 7. Public utility privatization in perspective: policy and paradigm change
Summary Concluding with an overview of the British experiment of energy and water privatization the author argues that the privatization settlements reached by successive Conservative governments with the privatized utility companies are seriously flawed, and that the British model of privatization is inappropriate to the domain of essential public utility services
This book is the first in-depth analysis of the impact of public utility privatization on ordinary consumers. John Ernst traces the history of energy and water privatization and documents the community and consumer sectors' various attempts to influence the structure of privatization and regulation. He provides a wealth of data on the energy and water utilities over the first period of privatization and shows that the benefits and costs of privatization have not been shared equally. Low income consumers have been particularly adversely affected and the regressive outcomes of privatization have undercut the gains that domestic consumers have made in some areas of service provision
Analysis Great Britain
Public utilities Privatisation
Comparisons
Consumer protection
Electricity industry
Gas industry
Government regulation
Great Britain
Overseas item
Privatisation
Statistics
Water supply
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [198]-220) and index
Subject Privatization -- Great Britain.
Public utilities -- Government policy -- Great Britain.
Author Open University.
LC no. 9303008812
ISBN 033519267X
0335192688