Cherry picking and social dumping

Abstract

This paper explores a number of key aspects of the privatization of UK utilities. The social, economic and geographical effects of these changes are now manifesting themselves but have yet to be fully analysed. In this paper we argue that there are two key parts to this process: the 'cherry picking' of lucrative customers from utility markets and the 'social dumping' of marginal domestic consumers. These are closely associated with a growing unevenness of social and geographical development of utilities. In this paper we conclude by arguing that these issues need to be brought to the centre of current debates about the regulation of liberalized utility markets.