Productivity and efficiency of leading European electricity utilities at a time of economic downturn

What is it about?

This study looks at the productivity and efficiency of 42 electricity companies in 10 EU countries and Switzerland from 2003 to 2011. Using Data Envelopment Analysis, it finds that productivity grew until 2007 due to new technology and better efficiency. However, after the 2008 financial crisis, productivity dropped because companies had too much unused capacity. This research is the first to study how the crisis affected electricity firms in Europe. It suggests that improving productivity in future crises might rely less on technology and more on better policies, managing resources wisely, and using best practices—important lessons for challenges like the ongoing impacts of the Ukraine conflict.

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