Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish a methodological framework to address key issues in electricity distribution network development. The paper defines subtasks in the strategy process and presents key elements in the strategy work and long‐term network planning. The results...

Purpose – Based on literature and an empirical case, the purpose of this paper is to present a framework for decision‐making in utilities where unbundling considerations are taking place. The paper analyses the implications of splitting long‐term network planning activity from the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the key outage‐cost‐influencing applications (fault location and network restoration, fault reporting, field crew management, and reconfiguration) of the distribution management system (DMS) and analyzes the benefits provided by them. The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the governance choices of firms operating in the electricity distribution network operation activities. The study aims to consider both costs and benefits of different governance choices and to examine which of the activities could be...

Purpose – Under the Kyoto protocol, emissions trading was imposed upon the Nordic Nord Pool Spot market in 2005. The purpose of this paper is to identify and characterize an important side‐effect of emissions trading on electricity spot market price behavior by statistically comparing price...

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to analyze the development needs and opportunities in the distribution system operators’ (DSO) tariff structures in the smart-grid environment. Design/methodology/approach – The impacts of the distribution pricing schemes for the stakeholders and their...

This article seeks empirical evidence of how the Finnish electricity distribution companies have responded to regulatory incentives in the rate of return regulation. The effects of regulation on company behaviour were studied by a questionnaire and interview survey. After more than ten years of...

Pension prefunding can be used to smooth contribution rates in economies where ageing will increase pension expenditure. But how extensive should prefunding be in a defined benefit pension system when there is considerable uncertainty concerning future mortality, fertility, and migration? We...