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The productive efficiency of a firm can be decomposed into two parts, one persistent and one transient. This distinction seems to be appealing for regulators. During the last decades, public utilities such as water and electricity have witnessed a wave of regulatory reforms aimed at improving efficiency through incentive regulation. Most of these regulation schemes use benchmarking, namely measuring companies' efficiency and rewarding them accordingly. Focusing on electricity distribution, we sketch a theoretical model to show that an imperfectly informed regulator may not disentangle the two parts of the cost efficiency. Therefore, the regulator may fail to set optimal efficiency targets, which also undermines quality. We then provide evidence on the presence of persistent and transient efficiency using data on 28 New Zealand electricity distribution companies between 2000 and 2011. First, we estimate a total cost function by means of traditional stochastic frontier models for panel data. These come up with an estimation of the persistent part or the transient part of the cost efficiency. Finally, we use the more recent generalized true random effects model that allows for the simultaneous estimation of both transient and persistent efficiency. We also find some evidence that persistent efficiency is associated to higher quality, and wrong efficiency targets are associated to lower quality compliance.

A search is presented for new physics in events with two low-momentum, oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons) and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data collected using the CMS detector at the LHC correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9. The observed event yields are consistent with the expectations from the standard model. The results are interpreted in terms of pair production of charginos and neutralinos (X1 and X2) with nearly degenerate masses, as expected in natural supersymmetry models with light higgsinos, as well as in terms of the pair production of top squarks (t), when the lightest neutralino and the top squark have similar masses. At 95% confidence level, wino-like X1/X2 masses are excluded up to 230 GeV for a mass difference of 20 GeV relative to the lightest neutralino. In the higgsino-like model, masses are excluded up to 168 GeV for the same mass difference. For pair production, top squark masses up to 450 GeV are excluded for a mass difference of 40 GeV relative to the lightest neutralino. Physics Letters B, 782 ISSN:0370-2693 ISSN:0031-9163 ISSN:1873-2445

Abstract In a recent paper, Jones (1995) [A dynamic analysis of the interfuel substitution in US industrial energy demand. J. Bus. Econ. Stat. 13 (4), 459–465] presents a dynamic analysis of interfuel substitution in US industry energy demand. The author concludes that a dynamic linear logit model is `superior' to a comparable dynamic translog model. The latter in fact violates concavity conditions whilst the logit formulation does not. This paper shows first of all that the dynamic formulation of the translog used in Jones (1995) is mis-specified. In fact, a parsimonious error-correction model (ECM) `dominates' alternative dynamic formulations, amongst which the partial adjustment mechanism used by the author. The ECM is able to generate optimal estimates of long-run and short-run elasticities, and it satisfies the concavity conditions of the cost function. Further, the theoretical framework used in this paper is the one recently proposed by Urga (1996) [On the identification problem in testing dynamic specification of factor demand equations. Econ. Lett. 52, 205–210] and Allen and Urga (1998) [Derivation and estimation of interrelated factor demands from dynamic cost function. Forthcoming in Economica]. It allows one to identify all coefficients (long-run and short-run) of the dynamic formulation via the joint estimation of the `effective' (short-run) cost function and the set of factor demand equations. This strategy solves, amongst other things, the parameter identification problem within the set of demand equations themselves, an issue which was originally noted by Anderson and Blundell (1982) [Estimation and hypothesis testing in dynamic singular equation systems. Econometrica, 1559–1571], re-addressed by Friesen (1992) [Testing dynamic specification of factor demand equations for US manufacturing. Rev. Econ. Stat. LXXIV (2), 240–250] and, more recently, by Urga (1996) and Allen and Urga (1998).

This paper investigates the voltage fluctuations determined by industry perturbing loads in a power system, with and without a STATCOM device in operation. The monitoring campaign was carried on by simultaneously measuring the voltage fluctuations in various points of the supplying power system, for revealing each perturbing customer contribution, and the background flicker. During the measuring campaign, the STATCOM was in/out of operation for revealing its influence on flicker reduction. Mitigation equipments are considered for reducing flicker level, each perturbing load contribution to the total investment function of the perturbing level.

Today’s building and energy management market is heterogeneous and complex. Most of the players in the construction market are not in possession of the managerial capability to fully control the dynamics that affect their energy costs in terms of energy sourcing and energy management. Moreover, construction industry needs to rely on a stronger technical and commercial expertise. On one hand, there is a need of an in-depth and extensive level of technical know-how that most of facility managers, property developers and building owners at private and public level scarcely hold. On the other hand, this industry is characterized by a fragmentation within the single tiers of the value chain. In this context, the paper aims at proposing a new vision of the building value chain towards a collaborative network led by a new player, namely the Fourth Party Energy Provider, acting as the “one-stop contracting and managing” operator, integrating resources, capabilities, best available technologies and practices for providing energy-efficient building solutions.

This article proposes a design strategy for energy flow controllers in microgrids with renewable generation within the framework of Economic Model Predictive Control (EMPC). The model used is made up of a storage system and a generation source, considering the possibility of exchanging energy with the main network, thus allowing to the microgrid, through the proposed control strategy, the possibility of acting and participating within the electrical market. The proposed functional for the controller considers costs of use for the microgrid systems, as well the benefit from sale of energy to the main electrical network. The operation of the system is checked by simulating it in different scenarios.