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For more than half a century, NERA’s economists have advised on the development and reform of regulatory frameworks and competitive markets for power and utility services around the world. Today, NERA’s experts continue to assist utility clients with complex matters of price regulation, competition, and market design. Our work increasingly focuses on the challenges these industries face to mitigate and adapt to climate change, replace fossil fuels with low carbon and renewable energy sources, electrify transport and heating demand, and accommodate changes in how customers consume utility services due to smart metering and enhancements in Distributed Energy Resource technologies. 

NERA’s experts combine deep understanding of economics with vast global experience supporting the power, utilities, and renewable industries and the supply chains supporting these industries. Our experience spans the whole power and utilities value chain: conventional and renewable power generation, competitive power procurement processes, wholesale market design, regulation of transmission pricing, and access to the regulation of electricity, gas, and water utilities. Across these areas, NERA works on the most important, high-profile matters that affect consumer, investor, and national interests.   

NERA’s power, utilities, and renewables experts focus on advisory matters and disputes. On advisory assignments, we assist companies, regulators, investors, and policymakers in developing, evaluating, and enhancing policy reforms and trade matters, as well as on business strategy and major investment decisions. In disputes, our experts prepare written evidence and present oral testimony in international arbitration, commercial litigation, bankruptcy, antitrust investigations, and regulatory proceedings.  

電力、公益事業、再生可能エネルギー

NERAのエコノミストたちは、半世紀以上にわたり、世界中の電力および公益事業に関する規制枠組みおよび競争市場の開発と改革について助言を行ってきました。現在、当社のエキスパートは、価格規制、競争、市場設計などの複雑な問題について、公益事業のクライアントを継続的に支援しています。当社は、気候変動の緩和と適応、化石燃料の低炭素エネルギー源や再生可能エネルギー源への置き換え、輸送と暖房需要への電化のため、これらの産業が直面する課題に一層焦点を当てるようになっています。また、スマートメーター化および分散型エネルギー資源テクノロジーの強化に伴う、顧客の公益事業サービスの利用方法の変化にも対応しています。

当社のエキスパートは、経済学の深い理解と、電力、公益事業、再生可能産業、およびこれらの業界を支えるサプライチェーンを支援する幅広いグローバルな経験を兼ね備えています。当社の経験は、従来型および再生可能な発電、競争力のある電力調達プロセス、卸売市場の設計、送電価格の規制、電気・ガス・水道事業の規制へのアクセスなど、電力および公益事業のバリューチェーン全体に及んでいます。当社はこれらの分野で消費者、投資家、国益に影響を与える最も重要で注目度の高い問題に取り組んでいます。

当社の電力、公益事業、再生可能エネルギー分野のエキスパートは、アドバイザリー業務と紛争関連を中心に活動しています。アドバイザリー業務については、企業、規制当局、投資家、政策立案者に対し、政策改革と貿易問題の策定、評価、強化のほか、ビジネス戦略と主要な投資判断の支援を行います。紛争においては、当社のエキスパートは書面による証拠を作成し、国際仲裁、商業的訴訟、破産、独占禁止法関連の調査、および規制上の手続きにおける口頭での専門家証言を提示します。

Regulatory Proceedings

NERA experts support power and utility companies and regulators to analyze wholesale and retail rates—including cost of capital—with cost-of-service analyses, rate design, and a wide range of other regulatory disputes. We conduct economic, market, and environmental impact analyses associated with new energy and other infrastructure. In addition, we solve challenges of integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) into the wider power system efficiently, including rooftop solar, demand-side management, and on-site generation at industrial sites.

Market Design

NERA has a long history advising regulators, governments, and market participants on the design of competitive wholesale and retail markets and market rules. Our experts support reform of established power markets due to growth in intermittent, zero-marginal cost technologies and the emergence of electricity storage. We have also provided support to our clients developing regulations to harness competition in the provision of major infrastructure like transmission upgrades and major water resource schemes.

Bankruptcy Proceedings

NERA experts have advised clients and provided testimony in bankruptcy proceedings, an emerging trend in energy due to risks such as wildfires, stresses on traditional utility business models, and out-of-market contracts rejected by debtors.

Auctions and Power Procurement

With regard to auctions, NERA experts assist clients with design and implementation as well as competitive procurement processes (e.g., allowing market participants to acquire power from deregulated generators, auction design for infrastructure capacity, and assessing renewables attributes). We support bidders in renewables procurement and capacity market tenders. Regarding power procurement, we develop new procurement mechanisms for emerging technologies (e.g., storage and demand response). 

Business and Utility Advisory

NERA experts advise clients on key business decisions including risk management, load forecasting, resource choice, contracting strategy for renewables, and retirement analyses.

Antitrust and Competition

Our experts support clients’ applications seeking regulatory approval for mergers and acquisitions as well as market-based rate authority and state aid clearance and advise on market power mitigation in power and utility markets. We also provide expert evidence to competition litigation proceedings, including market manipulation and other claims of anticompetitive behavior, appeals against enforcement decisions, economic damages claims, and collective actions.

Arbitration and Commercial Litigation

Our experts have provided testimony on economic damages and other industry expert opinions within international arbitration proceedings and commercial litigation, including those stemming from claims of breach of contract, partnerships and joint ventures, construction delays, expropriation, class actions, securities matters, intellectual property, and other commercial and investor-state disputes.

Policy Evaluation

We develop and evaluate policy interventions such as market restructuring, liberalization, and the introduction of competition. In addition, our experts evaluate decarbonization and other environmental regulations, including with macroeconomic and cost-benefit analyses. We also help our clients design regulatory support schemes for preferred technologies like renewables, such as feed-in tariffs and net metering.

Transactional Work

Our experts provide regulatory and commercial due diligence services to power and utility investors and market due diligence and price forecasting to power sector investors, increasingly involving new technologies like renewables, renewable gas, hydrogen, and storage.