ABSTRACT
The biggest and most radical project in the extensive UK privatization programme took place in 1990-91 when the electricity supply industry (ESI) in England and Wales passed into the private sector. This was the only major public u d t y privatization whch involved significant restructuring in order to promote competition in generation and in retail electricity supply, and to separate transmission from generation. At the same time, a new system of regulation was introduced for the remaining monopoly parts of the industry. The decision against simply transferring the old highly integrated structures from the public sector into the private sector was taken in response to criticisms levelled at the privatization of the telecommunications and gas industries in the mid-1980s which created structurally unreformed private sector monopolies.
