Two Issues in the Municipal Ownership of Electric Power Distribution Systems

Abstract

Though municipal ownership of electric power distribution systems has been a growing public issue since the late 1960s, serious empirical econometric investigation of distribution has barely begun. The authors opens with a critique of two recent works on distribution costs: one on distribution returns to scale and one on comparative public/private efficiency. A new conceptualization of the factors influencing distribution costs is then presented and a reformulation of the returns to scale and comparative efficiency questions is suggested. Next, statistical analysis with some new models and a new data base is presented. The author concludes with some speculative explanations of his relative cost-efficiency findings and a discussion of policy implications.