| Summary: | The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of energy sector reforms on
electricity generation and thus economic growth in EU and Southeast European
countries. The paper aims at clarifying whether the impact of energy sector
reforms on generation efficiency differs among countries according to their level
of development and regional characteristics. Our hypothesis is that the EU reform
model is not appropriate for all Member States and Southeast European countries
since it does not improve efficiency in electricity generation in all countries and
therefore, it can hamper economic growth. For testing the defined hypothesis the
panel regression model with fixed effects has been used. The research results show
that unlike in the EU-15 (old Member States), energy sector reforms in the EU-12
(new Member States), and selected Southeast European countries (Energy
Community contracting parties) have no significant impact on electricity
transmission and distribution losses. These evidences imply that the uniform EU
reform model does not improve efficiency of electricity generation in less developed
countries. On the contrary it can even hamper economic growth and therefore it
cannot be appropriate for all Member States. The reason lies in the fact that
successful reform model requires adequate level of institutional resources that are
missing in most transition and post-transition countries.
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