Regulatory economics
Since privatisation in the UK and the early years of economic regulation across Europe, London Economics has been a trusted provider of analysis, advice, and evidence to companies, regulators and governments. London Economics’ experienced economic consultants produce client-driven studies using cutting-edge analytic tools across a wide range of regulation questions and industries with experience extending beyond Europe. Working closely with other London Economics teams to provide a high level of expertise in newer issues and methods for regulatory economics, our economic consultants provide robust evidence-based market analysis across the full range of regulatory issues, such as:
- The introduction of competition into regulated industries, incorporating behavioural biases, consumer churn and switching behaviours
- Regulatory pricing arrangements and price controls, including the impacts of regulatory policies on firm behaviours, and the consequences of various pricing strategies
- Consumer behaviour in regulated industries and network markets, including the effect of consumer biases in regulated markets
- The interaction between regulation and service quality, and consumer and firm’s willingness to pay to avoid risks and/or change service quality
- Universal service obligations.
- Benchmarking and cost efficiency
- Demand forecasting
- Investment appraisal, impact assessments, and policy evaluation
- Retail, wholesale and network price structures and network access; and
- Regulatory due diligence
Our regulatory economics expertise extends across all the major regulated utilities, sectors and industries, with particular expertise in energy, water, air transport, telecommunication and postal services markets.
Recent projects
We provide our clients with a precise and professional regulatory economics analysis and this is the reason why our team has been trusted by companies, regulation authorities and governments to support them in their decision making. Examples of our work include:
- Developing firm behaviours for use in agent-based modelling of water abstraction reform policies
- Using choice experiments to understand how consumers might react to increases in postage stamp prices
- Reviewing willingness to pay evidence in relation to reducing the impact of electricity transmission infrastructure on visual amenity
- Investigating competition in upstream sewage markets
- Using economic experiments to understand consumer switching processes in telecom markets
- Estimating the small business cost of capital in the gas sector
Head of the team
Our Regulatory Economics team is led by Siôn Jones, who is a Partner at London Economics. Siôn has wide experience of advising both on public policy and on competition and regulation in the network industries in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. He leads London Economic’s Regulatory Economics team and our Health & Social Care team. Siôn also sits on the All Wales Programme Monitoring Committee for the EU structural funds 2007-13 and is a member the Welsh European Funding Office’s Evaluation Advisory Group.
Prior to joining London Economics, Siôn was an economic advisor at HM Treasury in the UK, an advisor in the water team of another leading economics consultancy, and he led work on telecom pricing and competition issues at the Commission for Communications Regulation in Ireland. He has spent periods on secondment at the European Commission and at a water company in the UK.
Siôn has a M.Sc. in Economics and a B.Sc. in Accounting & Economics, both from the University of Southampton in the UK.
Contact details
Siôn Jones
T: +44 (0)29 2066 0250
