Electricity Industry, Anti-monopoly Laws And Regulation

The industry of electricity power is generally considered as a typical industry that is monopolized by the government and is not subject to Anti-trust Law. With the development of economy and technology, however, the industry of electricity power no longer maintains the complete feature of natural monopoly. From the 70s and 80s of last century, there is a reform which requires the destruction of monopoly and the introduction of competition. During this reform, Anti-trust law plays an important role. There have been many researches on the destruction of monopoly from the view of economy, while the researches and results on the part of law are rare. Therefore, deep research on the legal regulation of and knowledge on the defects of the industry of electricity power is a necessity especially during the crucial period of electricity reform. I have made a few suggestions on the perfection of Antitrust on the industry of electricity power in China, basing the regulation mode of others countries and comparison between former mode and nowadays mode of China. Due to the nature of natural monopoly, our country has adopted a mode that the nation monopolizes the industry and the industry is not subjected to the antitrust law and administrative management. The aforementioned mode can do nothing on various monopolies with the development of technology, economy, and legal theory. I have made a thorough thought and analyses the destruction on different stages in order to maintain effective competition and proper supervision, based on economic stages on business of electricity according its scope and the research result of economy on monopoly. Antitrust law shall apply to the industry of electricity power, but a reasonable monopoly on the market shall be acknowledged by the law. This mode is governed the indirect effect of law and the direct effect of administrative branch. The direct aim is to acquire the combination of monopoly and competition and accomplish an effective competition on the industry of electricity power.