Comparative Analyses

There are at least two situations where the regulator may want to gather information from other jurisdictions, such as other counties. Agencies that regulate operators that serve multiple jurisdictions may find it beneficial to develop uniform reporting requirements and to share data.¹ Also, information from other jurisdictions may be useful for benchmarking analyses.² The European Union, for example, used cross-country analyses to assist National Regulatory Authorities in establishing interconnection prices in telecommunications. UK regulators regularly benchmark their utilities against utilities in other counties. Regulators generally find such international comparisons useful, but care must be taken to ensure that the operating conditions in the comparator jurisdictions are sufficiently similar to those in the regulator’s own jurisdiction to make the comparisons valid. Agencies that regulate operators that serve multiple jurisdictions may find it beneficial to develop uniform reporting requirements and to share data.³ Data may be crosschecked across jurisdictions and regulators can share resources for audits.⁴ Regulators can also use error-checking routines in spreadsheets, especially if operators submit data electronically. Regulators should require that data be submitted in a sufficiently disaggregated form to allow analysis.

Footnotes

1. See Regulatory Systems of Accounts for information on accounting requirements.
2. See Principles of Using Efficiency Measures for Yardstick Regulation in Price Level Regulation for further information.
3. See Basic Financial Statements.
4. See Regulatory Process for other information on working with stakeholders and other government agencies.