Madam, - Competition authority chairman Bill Prasifka, in his call for more electricity price competition, says that electricity price regulation does not work (Business This Week, December 1st). Is this true?
Palast, Oppenheim and MacGregor, in their 2003 book Democracy and Regulation, claim that the American system of price regulation has resulted in electricity prices that are among the lowest in the world.
They also claim that, out of 25 American states that have taken steps towards market experiments, at least a third are already backing away.
Apparently, the Americans base their system of price regulation on total freedom of information with regard to each electricity company, and full participation by each company's workers, customers, and the public, in the setting of the company's prices and standards. Issues of safety, quality, employment, and even the type of ownership of the utility are all decided in this way.
The regulator's decisions must be in writing and based on evidence which has been questioned in public, and the answers recorded in public.
If the American system of electrical utility price regulation works so well, why can't we try it over here, or at least examine it closely, before thinking of such a radical step as breaking up the ESB? - Yours, etc,
DAVID CAMPBELL, Springhill Park, Killiney, Co Dublin.