Review of Sectoral Reforms in the United Kingdom: Energy and the Professions

This report analyses the institutional set up and use of policy instruments to regulate the gas and electricity sectors and the liberal professions in the United Kingdom. In the energy sector, the pace and scope of reform have been, and is prospectively, very rapid. However, there are still some tensions between the energy regulator and the competition authority, and some specific energy regulatory issues arise from the extension of market frameworks into areas previously controlled by traditional natural monopoly regulation. Also the interface of energy market regulation and social and environmental issues appears partly blurred. The report focuses as well on Professions, a significant component of the services sector, which is thriving in the UK. It discusses the process and outcomes from the recent extension of the UK competition law to cover professions, which ...