UK utilities are generally regulated by the periodic setting of a price cap (the RPI-X mechanism). To establish these caps, regulators must determine what returns are appropriate on the capital employed by utilities. This paper addresses the issue of the level of risk inherent in investment in...

Volatility in UK stock markets increased substantially during 1997-2000 relative to the past. This paper shows that much of that volatility can be attributed to a substantial increase in sector specific and sub-sector specific risk. Over this period the role of market risk as the driving force...

Utilities regulation attempts to attenuate the effects of market failure. Contemporary systems of regulation are generally either rate of return or price cap (RPI-X) systems. This paper addresses the issue of the levels of excess returns and risk inherent in investment in the equity of regulated...

This paper explores the scale and behaviour of abnormal returns observed in the equity of the 10 Water and Sewerage Companies (WASCs) in England and Wales that were formed at privatisation of the UK water industry in 1989. The paper uses the CAPM and employs techniques of the Kalman Filter to...