Johan John

Consultant

Johan John is a Consultant at Europe Economics having joined the firm in 2021. He has experience advising clients on issues related to regulatory economics, cost of capital, impact assessments, economic evaluation, and applied econometrics across various sectors, including transport, energy, healthcare, and financial services. Johan holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Johan John is a Consultant at Europe Economics having joined the firm in 2021. He has experience advising clients on issues related to regulatory economics, cost of capital, impact assessments, economic evaluation, and applied econometrics across various sectors, including transport, energy, healthcare, and financial services. Johan holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Johan’s experience working with regulatory bodies includes a secondment to the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to contribute to policy proposals combating Authorised Push Payment scams and Confirmation of Payee. He was also involved in a governance review project for PSR, analysing the governance structures of various intermediary bodies.

Johan’s other regulatory work includes a cost of capital project with the Authority of Consumer and Markets (Netherlands) advising on the cost of equity for the rail sector; reviewing the benchmarking model used to regulate electricity network charges for Energistyrelsen (Denmark); a review of the optical business market for the General Optical Council; a market comparison report for the future Non-Household Water Retail Market for MOSL; and advising the Flemish Energy Regulator on cost efficiency and financial incentive mechanisms.

Johan also has considerable experience in economic impact assessments and valuation. He advised the Civil Enforcement Association on the value of enforcement in the UK. He also has experience working with the European Commission, including a research project for DG CLIMA assessing the global market for carbon-traded ETFs and a project for DG FISMA evaluating the impact of the audit directive in Europe.

He has a keen interest in Financial Economics, Industrial Organisation, and Microeconomic theory, along with significant experience in conducting quantitative analysis using statistical software such as R, Microsoft Excel, and Python.

Support in price review process

Providing support on the cost of capital and financeability to regulated firms or regulators in the context of price control reviews (e.g. by providing them with analysis and assisting them in responding to representations from other parties). Our wider price control expertise is presented in more detail here.

Ofwat

Our personnel have been seconded multiple times to Ofwat, and we have carried out various discrete studies analysing the water sector from different perspectives. Some of these have involved cost assessment support for RAPID gate two assessment; advising on important aspects of Ofwat’s approach to the cost of equity for PR24 and; assisting with the investigation of the potential for improving Ofwats’s methodology to mergers’ assessment.

European Commission, DG CLIMA

We have conducted several studies for DG CLIMA relating to the European Union’s emissions trading system.   For example, we conducted a study looking at the impact of changes in trading activity on the price formation processes in the European carbon market, the access to the market for retail investors, which included also the access via exchange traded funds (ETFs), the hedging strategies of EU emissions trading system (ETS) compliance entities, and the role played by derivatives and financial entities in the EU ETS.

Danish Energy Regulator (Energistyrelsen)

We looked at how a benchmarking model used to help set price controls by the Energistyrelsen on DSOs might affect the Green Transition.  We looked at the challenges facing DSOs in the Green Transition and what behaviours should be incentivised.  We then looked at how the benchmarking model and wider regulatory framework might affect those incentives.  This included developing a number of worked examples to consider how the benchmarking model might affect incentives to invest in network expansion, faster connections or flexibility solutions. 

Zero Waste Scotland

Europe Economics was engaged by Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) to estimate how potential efficiency savings in water and energy are likely to be distributed across firms of different sizes and ownership structures in Scotland. The aim was to inform ZWS policy of where to target resource saving initiatives; in particular whether potential savings were sufficiently concentrated among SMEs to warrant specific effort among these.

We was also engaged by ZWS to estimate the costs and benefits of proposed market restrictions on specific single-use plastic products in Scotland and to analyse the impacts of the restrictions on competition, consumers and Scottish firms.

Citizens Advice UK

We were commissioned by Citizens Advice UK to investigate the mechanisms that could be used to limit or share the financial risk for energy bill payers in the context of highly anticipatory energy infrastructure investments in GB.

We developed a compendium of risk-allocation tools and, for each, we analysed: the suitability of the mechanism for different types of investments and projects; the extent (and the type) of risk allocated to consumers; the relative advantages and disadvantages of the tool; and how they affect the cost of capital. Each tool also included a case study of the tool being applied in practice.

Professional regulation

Healthcare professionals are the driving force behind the delivery of high-quality care. Outcomes can be affected by external structures and systems as well as individuals’ training and incentives. Economic regulation is one tool that can assist healthcare regulators discern between contextual, clinical and competency risks facing a healthcare profession and its workforce, and develop targeted and cost-effective regulation and training. Our work includes:

Policy development and impact assessment

As societies and technologies change, it is vital to understand and test the value of medical innovations and new care models. Our expertise in impact assessment and wider understanding of health- and social care markets enable us to advise policy-makers and funders how to prioritise policies and interventions needed to support the delivery of health and medical care. Our work includes:

Intellectual property and pricing

We understand the importance of protecting intellectual property in pharmaceuticals and incentivising innovation, and the need to provide cost-effective access to medicines and healthcare. We advise on the design and impact of intellectual property policies and payment and reimbursement systems within the challenges and opportunities of a European and global pharmaceuticals market, applying learning from other regulated sectors. Our work includes: