State companies: State-owned companies such as ESB, Bord Gáis and An Post should be forced to make their case at public hearings before they are granted any price increases, aexpert on competition regulation has said.

"This would allow the arguments put forward by regulated firms to be challenged directly. It would also require those opposing price increases to present more rigorous arguments," Mr Patrick Massey, former chairman of the Competition Authority, claimed.

Since leaving the authority Mr Massey has set up his own consultancy called Compecon Ltd.

Mr Massey's comments are included in a paper prepared for the ESRI entitled Is Irish Utility Regulation Failing Consumers?

In his paper Mr Massey said sharp price increases for gas, electricity and postal services in recent years had created "growing public disenchantment with the regulatory process in Ireland".

He said the public now believed that competition had not worked.

"There is a need for a properly resourced consumer body that is capable of undertaking the necessary research to present a counter case to the regulated firm. Greater transparency is required to restore credibility to price regulation," he said.

Mr Massey also floated the controversial idea of a so-called "super regulator".

"The existing regulatory agencies for energy, telecommunications and airports should be combined into a single regulatory agency.

"There would appear to be obvious economies of scale and scope suggesting that a merger would be beneficial, while such an agency might also be less prone to regulatory capture," he said.

Mr Massey said little progress had been made in introducing competition to the gas, electricity and postal industries.

"Arguably this is because too little consideration has been given to the introduction of measures necessary to bring about such competition," he said.

"Greater emphasis must be placed on measures designed to promote competition, including restructuring in gas and electricity and a speeding up of measures to liberalise postal services.

"Such measures must be accompanied by policies designed to limit regulation to those areas that are genuine natural monopolies, something which regulators are unlikely to do if left to their own devices," he concluded.S