ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Performance Benchmarking in Utility Regulation:
the Worldwide Experience
Rui Cunha Marques1, Pedro Simões2, João Simão Pires3
More details
Hide details
1Centre for Management Studies (CEG-IST), Technical University of Lisbon,
Avenida Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
2Centre of Urban and Regional Systems (CESUR), Technical University of Lisbon,
Avenida Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
3Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority (ERSAR), Rua Tomás da Fonseca,
Torre G, 8º 1600-209 Lisbon, Portugal
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2011;20(1):125-132
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the results of an investigation about water regulation, which included more than 50
regulators worldwide. One of the topics analyzed was the use of benchmarking in each country/state in the
regulatory context. It was noticed that 72% of the regulators applied benchmarking either in the quality of service
regulation or in the economic regulation for the setting of prices and tariffs. This article analyzes in detail
the results obtained with this survey and presents comprehensively the different ways of employing benchmarking
in the regulatory process, exemplifying them with case-studies of different countries from different
continents.