United Kingdom Electricity Supply Industry Deregulation Literature Review

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the evolution of the electricity supply industry (ESI) in the United Kingdom (U.K.), with a focus on recent privatization efforts and industry restructuring initiatives that may have the potential to affect the safety of the nuclear installations. Throughout this chapter, the term “restructuring” is used preferentially over “deregulation,” for several reasons. First, the U.K. experience involved the privatization of ESI assets in addition to market deregulation. Also, as in the other case studies, safety was not deregulated. (In fact, in response to industry restructuring, the U.K. nuclear safety regulators added a new license condition, two additional inspectors, and a new level of management assessment to their previous regulatory program.) Finally, there are some indications that in the U.K. ESI, achieving increased competition has involved a change in the nature of economic regulation, rather than deregulation per se (see for example International Energy Agency, 1994).