Utility industries, namely power generation and distribution, gas industry, thermal energy, water management, and electronic communications are characterised by the need for regulation, which is implemented by an independent regulatory authority as provisioned in the relevant legislation. Its role is to create a level playing field in the form of a sustainable competitive environment and, in sectors where the emergence of a competitive environment is not possible, it strives to protect end consumers from any abuse of dominant position by monopoly suppliers. For a healthy market, the regulator needs to set conditions that incentivise the regulated entities to invest and innovate, but also ensure these investments translate into reasonable profitability.
Experts in our team can provide support in the following areas:
We will draft legislation aimed at regulating wholesale or retail prices to protect the end consumer while ensuring a return on investment in the development of regulated infrastructure.
The drafting of meaningful regulatory legislation requires communication between the regulator and the regulated entity. As part of this communication, we aim to achieve a two-fold objective: We will identify any potential negative impacts the draft regulation might have on the sector's development. Moreover, we propose solutions that not only contribute to the sector's growth but also ensure the amendments don't disadvantage end consumers.
In addition to the positive impact that regulation attempts to bring to end consumers, it may also be associated with negative effects that become tangible on the part of the regulated entities. They may take the form of administrative burden as well as lead to negative consequences for the development of the regulated sector as a whole. We will prepare an analysis of the negative impact of the regulation on the regulated environment by quantifying administrative costs or calculating the negative effect on the development of the entire regulated industry.
Ensuring compliance with any regulation involves the preparation of a specific dossier required by the respective legislation, which serves as basic documents for the calculation of the regulated price. We will provide you with robust support in the process of drawing up the required documents and submitting them to the regulator, helping you in the communication concerning the assessment and approval of the proposal of the regulated price. Moreover, we will assist you in the processing of any potential appeal (redress) against the decision on the height of the regulated price or the decision and method of setting the regulated price if it were to distort fair competition or violate the rights of the regulated entity.
In the electronic communications sector, where regulation is conditional on the analysis of the relevant market and the identification of the entity with significant influence, we can process the three criteria test to justify ex-ante use, as well as the actual analysis of the relevant market itself. We can also process arguments and comments on the three criteria test, or any relevant market analysis prepared by the regulatory body. We can process the argumentation and comments both from the perspective of the entity to be regulated as well as the entity to which the regulation is expected to bring benefits.
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