Regulation

You would like to play an active role in shaping your sector's regulation and effectively advance your position. We support you in developing your regulatory framework with:

  • Development and implementation of regulatory strategies
  • Regulatory impact assessments from an economic or business perspective
  • Design and implementation of price-, incentive- and cost regulations incl. determination of WACC, operator efficiency (Xind) and sectorial productivity (Xgen)
  • Network access and interconnection issues
  • Market regulation and market design
  • Universal service regulation incl. design, allocation, costing and financing
  • Institutional design and governance

Contact

Tobias Binz is a Principal with Swiss Economics.

Urs Trinkner is the Managing Director of Swiss Economics and Lecturer at the University of Zurich.

Get to know our whole team.

Selected projects

What is the investment need for a Swiss connection to the European hydrogen network? How could funding mechanisms look like? How can investments be secured?

Increasingly comprehensive rules on sustainability reporting and due diligence apply in the EU. What does this mean for Switzerland and its SMEs?

Does a damaged asset have to be written off?

How do currencies affect the risk exposure of an airport or ANSP?

How has the Swiss electricity market developed in recent years?

What are the critical points of the ordinances on the overarching decree?

How does the regulatory framework of an airport affect its exposure to market risk?

How does a flat-rate system differ from an individual service tariff in terms of a number of important assessment criteria?

How high should the financing cost rate for electricity grids and renewables be in future?

How resource and energy efficient are different DLT applications?

How have end customers reacted to the rise in electricity prices? What role do government measures play?

What are the reversion strategies of the mountain cantons? What do they mean for the canton of Zurich? Is there a need for action?

Should the future market area manager in the Swiss gas market take on tasks related to supply security? If yes, how should the market area manager be capitalized, and how should the governance be structured?

What are economically sensible thresholds for state intervention?

What are the revenue opportunities for different hydropower plants in Switzerland? What role do the various sales options such as spot, futures, ancillary services, capacity and proof-of-origin markets play?

How expensive are the basic supply requirements today and in ten years?

How would the standardised reimbursement of ambulatory, inpatient and nursing care services (EFAS) affect insurers?

From an economics perspective, what challenges do energy platforms pose? What role does artificial intelligence play in this context?

Should a canton react in the event of persistently high energy prices? If so, how and when?

What are the market trends and customer needs in international letter mail? How should the UPU respond?

What are the main challenges for Swiss digital policy? How can these challenges be analyzed and classified economically?

What are appropriate bids for the hydropower reserve?

How can the cost of capital be set in a project- or company-specific manner in a pragmatic but coherent way?

What measures are being discussed at EU and Swiss level to combat high energy prices? Which of these are relevant for Switzerland? What measures could Switzerland take?

Looking ahead to the energy transition, what are potentially suitable comparison parameters for an efficiency comparison?

Should Dublin Airport's regulatory WACC be amended in light of Covid-19?

How should the legal framework be adapted to enable sustainable development?

A quel niveau devrait se situer le tarif du chauffage à distance en Valais central ?

How could benchmarking be implemented in the hospital sector?

How should the system for the new regulatory period for the Austrian gas distribution networks be defined?

Have German gas and electricity networks become more productive? At what level should the Xgen be set for the fourth regulatory period?

Is there a need for regulation in the area of interchange fees in the wake of the rapid growth of new debit cards?

How efficient are German transmission system operators (TSOs)?

How can cross-subsidies be classified? When is cross-subsidzation allowed and reasonable to corporate financing?

How do distribution system operators (DSOs) assess the connection of renewable energies? Is there a need for harmonization?

How efficient are European electricity and gas transmission system operators?

What are PATHways to an efficient future energy system through flexibility and sector coupling?

What are the main cost drivers of power grids? How efficient are German distribution system operators (DSOs)?

Swiss data governance: How to govern data spaces such that they are trusted by the public and enable innovation?

How effective are non-pharmaceutical measures in containing the coronavirus and how high are the costs of specific measures?

How can the interests of public transport providers be taken into account in the NOVA platform?

What is the damage arising from the enactment of new EC law on an affected business?

How should the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of Swiss power grids be determined?

What role(s) could SBB play in the domain of fast charging of e-buses and what could be the benefits for the whole economy?

What are the relevant cost drivers of gas pipelines? How efficient are the German gas transmission operators in the photo year 2020?

What are the net costs of the postal universal service obligation (USO) today and in ten years?

What are the cost drivers of district heating? What is a "fair" price for district heating? How should the governance and regulation for district heating networks look like?

Assessment of the antitrust-compliance of a new pricing model in the energy sector

What is the impact of a cost target on the development of the costs of mandatory health care insurance (OKP)?

How can track user charges for rail freight services be determined? How can they be implemented in practice?

 

How do the different strategic options for Bedag Information AG need to be assessed?

Assessment of unilateral effects in the context of a merger for a professional association.

Swiss Economics advised the Irish Commission for Aviation Regulation on the appropriate return on capital in the context of its 2019 Determination of price caps for passenger tariffs at Dublin Airport    

Can the burden of the net cost of the universal service obligation in the Irish telecoms market be borne by the provider?

How can market-based incentives be set to ensure that sufficient investments are made in Swiss renewables?

Can regulatory benchmarking contribute to "Better Regulation"?

How do increases in decentralized power affect the cost of local power grids? How high is the efficiency of German distribution system operators (DSOs)?

How efficient are European electricity and gas transmission system operators (TSOs)?

When and under what conditions does it make sense to privatise public companies?

What are the relevant cost drivers of gas pipelines? How efficient are the German gas transmission operators (TSOs) in the base year 2015?

How efficient are European gas transmission system operators (TSOs)?

What transport effects do new sharing services have? To what extent do new sharing approaches change people's mobility behaviour?

Publications

Published in the Journal of Political Economy Macroeconomics, Volume 2, Number 3, September 2024

Die Volkswirtschaft, Februar 2024

Study for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)

Study for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE)

Background study for the AWEL of the canton of Zurich

Study on behalf of Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE)

Foundational Paper

Book chapter in Postal Strategies (2023). Parcu P., Brennan T., Glass V. (eds). Springer, Cham.

Book chapter in The Postal and Delivery Contribution in Hard Times (2023). Parcu P., Brennan T., Glass V. (eds). Springer, Cham.

Report for the Commission for Aviation Regulation

Book chapter in "The Economics of the Postal and Delivery Sector" (2022). Parcu P., Brennan T., Glass V. (eds). Springer, Cham.

Study for the Verband elektronischer Zahlungsverkehr

Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)

Regulatory impact assessment for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy

Baseline study on universal services and public service provision for the Liechtestein Think Tank "Zukunft.li"

Competition and Regulation in Network Industries. 2020;21(3):297-312

 

Book chapter in "The Changing Postal Environment. Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy." Parcu P., Brennan T., Glass V. (eds). Springer, Cham.

Research Project on behalf of SVI (Schweizerische Vereinigung der Verkehrsingenieure und Verkehrsexperten).

Report on behalf of Autorité de régulation des transports

Report on behalf of Autorité de régulation des transports

Expert report on behalf of Bundesnetzagentur

Book chapter on improving the instiutional setting of the rail market in Switzerland.

Die Volkswirtschaft, 10/2019, S. 62-64.

Die Volkswirtschaft, 6/2019, S. 4-7.

Report for the Commission for Aviation Regulation

Report on behalf of Bundesnetzagentur

Umweltschutz der Wirtschaft, issue 4/18-19, p. 33-34

Expert report on behalf of Zurich Airport

Research project for the Swiss Association of Transportation Engineers and Experts (SVI)

Expert report on behalf of the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKÖ)

An article for Finanz und Wirtschaft

Study for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)

An article in Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Presentation by Christian Jaag

Study for Bundesamt für Energie (BFE)

Study for Bundesamt für Energie (BFE)

Study for CEER (Council of European Energy Regulators)

Expert report for the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKÖ)

Study for Schweizerische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für die Berggebiete (SAB) and Schweizerischer Gemeindeverband (SGV)

Study for Bundesamt für Energie (BFE)

Network Industries Quarterly, vol. 17(3), pp. 10-13

Die Volkswirtschaft 1/2-2015, pp. 58-61

In: Postal and Delivery Innovation in the Digital Economy. Edited by M. Crew and T. Brennan, Springer, pp. 301-312

Utilities Policy 31, pp. 266-277

In: The Role Of The Postal And Delivery Sector In A Digital Age. Edited by M. Crew and T. Brennan, Edward Elgar, pp. 204-213

Review of Law and Economics 9(1), pp. 125-150

In: Reforming the Postal Sector in the Face of Electronic Competition. Edited by M. Crew and P.R. Kleindorfer, Edward Elgar, pp. 294-305

In: Reforming the Postal Sector in the Face of Electronic Competition. Edited by M. Crew and P.R. Kleindorfer, Edward Elgar, pp. 277-293

Study on behalf of German Federal Parliament

Wirtschaftsdienst - Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, 92(1), 4-5

In: Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Verkehrswirtschaft. C. Lässer, T. Bieger and R. Maggi (Hrsg.), 2011, 97-114

In: Reinventing the Postal Sector in an Electronic Age. Edited by M. Crew and P.R. Kleindorfer, Edward Elgar, 267-280

Study for SBB Cargo

Journal for Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, Vol. 4, 382-397

Network Industries Quarterly 12(3), 17-19

In: Heightening Competition in the Postal and Delivery Sector, edited by M.A. Crew and P.R. Kleindorfer. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar

Study for Sunrise

Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften, ISBN 3838107888

Study for Swisscom

Study for Swiss Post

Revue d'économie industrielle 127(3)

Journal for Competition and Regulation in Network Industries 10(4), 313-332

Network Industries Quarterly 11(3), 3-6

In: Aktuelle Entwicklungen des Europäischen und Internationalen Wirtschaftsrechts, Band XI, C. Baudenbacher (Hrsg.), Helbing und Lichtenhahn, 337-424

Network Industries Quarterly 10(1), 18-19

In: Regulatory and Economic Challenges in the Postal and Delivery Sector, M. A. Crew and P. R. Kleindorfer (Hrsg.), Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 53-72