Price reviews

There are few things more fundamental to a business than the price it can charge for its product.  Regulators are charged with the responsibility to ensure that prices are not excessive.

We have provided assistance with the high level strategic thinking that should underlie either party's approach to a price review. In particular, we provide rigorous economic thinking and a creative external perspective to assist the company, or regulator, in defining its approach to a pricing review. We also provide support in undertaking the detailed analysis that is required in any review. This covers activities such as efficient incentive design, the form of the price control, RAB versus cashflow approaches, cost of capital estimation, asset valuation, efficiency and productivity analysis and investment appraisal.

Our experience covers work for both regulators and regulated companies and covers every major regulated industry. Clients have included South East Water, CitiPower/Powercor, Vodafone, AGL, Origin, Meridian, Sydney Water, Foxtel, Virgin Blue, Western Mining Corporation, Hamersley Iron, Goulburn Murray Water, United Energy, Integral Energy, Hydro Tasmania, and Synergy. Regulator clients include IPART, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, NZ Commerce Commission, and the NZ Electricity Commission. Frontier has also assisted a number of firms during price review process and associated appeal processes.