FAILURE OF NETWORK INDUSTRY LIBERALISATION IN EASTERN EUROPE: THE CASE OF ELECTRICITY LIBERALISATION IN UKRAINE

Deregulatory reform of electricity industries includes three main steps: a) the break-up of vertically integrated monopolies; b) the privatisation of generation (and sales) companies; and c) the introduction of competition rules in the electricity market. This article discusses the key acts of reform, the political and economic circumstances in which they were enacted, the positions of key actors and the challenges confronted in Ukraine during electricity liberalisation policy-making. The article concludes that liberalisation reform of the electricity industry under both political systems in Ukraine in the 1990s and early 2000s failed because no effective privatisation rules were established and implemented.