ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some of the central claims of privatisation, including the broadening of the base of stakeholding, through the creation of a ‘shareholding democracy’, and, through the operation of market mechanisms, to have spread its benefits more efficiently and equitably than a publicly-run and delivered service. It provides a small case study from within the electricity industry that will consider the relative fates of shareholders, directors and workers in a liberalised market. The chapter also provides a suggestion that the economic successes of privatisation may have more hidden social costs which do not fall to the companies themselves. It focuses in more detail upon the way in which the operation of the privatised utilities has had an effect upon customers, and upon poorest customers in particular. The chapter looks at some key policy developments in the industries, which revolve around central claims for the benefits of privatisation: competition and innovation.
