REGULATION OF NATURAL MONOPOLIES | Key Staff

Castalia develops tailored approaches to regulate natural monopolies and advises firms on strategies to mitigate regulatory risk and maximise the value of regulated assets

David Ehrhardt—David is recognised as a global authority on utility regulation. He worked initially on New Zealand's pioneering experiments with light-handed regulation, before moving to London to advise privatized water and electricity utilities on their regulatory strategy for the first review of their price controls. David has created or advised on multi-sector regulatory regimes and agencies for numerous countries, including Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. He has advised on water regulation in New Zealand, Australia, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia. He authored definitive World Bank guidance on the topic in Explanatory Notes on Water Regulation [PDF]. In telecommunications, David has advised on interconnection regimes and local loop regulation in New Zealand, the Bahamas, Jamaica and elsewhere. In the electricity sector, he has advised New Zealand's transmission company and largest distributor on regulatory issues, as well as helping the Philippines Energy Regulatory Commission improve the regulatory regime to boost efficiency and investment in electricity distribution.

Alex Sundakov—Alex has advised both governments and major international corporations on natural monopoly regulation in New Zealand, Canada the Philippines, Indonesia and South Africa. His perspective on regulation comes both from his involvement assisting governments and regulatory bodies to improve the quality of the regulatory environment, and from assisting infrastructure businesses in dealing with regulatory threats and undertaking complex transactions. Alex recently advised Babcock and Brown Infrastructure on its response to a regulatory decision to significantly reduce electricity distribution tariffs and has developed the methodology for setting electricity tariffs in Tonga.

Nils Janson—Nils advises governments, financial institutions, and private companies on strategies for financing, developing, regulating, and governance of infrastructure. He has advised governments and regulatory authorities in Argentina, the Eastern Caribbean States, Mexico, Montenegro, Uganda, and Venezuela on developing and strengthening regulatory regimes for energy and water utilities.

Ben Gerritsen—Ben has worked on several price control and tariff reviews for regulated water, electricity and gas utilities, ports and airports. Ben recently reviewed the capital expenditure plans of the water utility in Trinidad and Tobago, and helped to critique a regulatory decision in New Zealand placing gas distribution networks under price control. Ben understands the microeconomic foundations of infrastructure industries, and has a well-developed range of analytical tools to help evaluate regulatory decisions.

Richard Bramley—Richard has had detailed involvement in the reform and regulation of natural monopolies in both developed and developing countries. In New Zealand and Australia, Richard has advised on the regulatory impacts of port mergers, provided expert assistance to electricity generators and distributors in their applications for regulatory price review, and has assisted competition authorities with price setting in the telecommunications sector. His experience in developing countries includes his work to redesign the regulation of Tonga’s electricity sector, and a study to examine of the benefits of a regional regulator for electricity in the eastern Caribbean.