論民營化後公用事業規制的公益目標

On the Public Benefit Goal of Public Utilities Regulation after Privatization

民營化改革致使人們普遍擔心公用事業用戶的消費負擔增加、市場競爭受阻，乃至影響到資源環境的可持續發展。在回答公用事業為什麼需要規制這一問題上，公共利益是永恆的答案。儘管公共利益的概念具有不確定性，但是在公用事業民營化改革不斷深化的特定情境中，公用事業規制所追求的公共利益仍可獲其特定內涵，並可以劃分為三個不同的面向，即通過強制延伸服務機制、抵制掠奪性定價和限制市場退出確保公用事業服務的普遍化、通過糾正無效率或不公正市場運作實現社會總體經濟福利的優化、通過加強對環境污染的規制促進資源環境的可持續發展。但是，公共利益並非公用事業規制所追求的最終目標，追求公共利益在根本上是為了更好地尊重和保障個體人權。The privatization process of public utilities worries people in increasing consumers' burden， lack of competition， even the sustainable development of environment. In answering 'why we need to regulate public utilities？'， public benefit is the eternal response. Though there is no definite definition of public benefit， the regulation of public utilities can still have its specific area， especially under the background of deepening the reform of public utilities， which can be divided into three directions： through compulsory service extension， no predatory pricing and free market withdrawal to ensure the coverage of public utilities； through inefficiency or unfair market practices correction to realize the optimization of general social welfare and through strong supervision of environment protection to promote sustainable development. However， public benefit is not the ultimate goal of public utilities regulation. The pursuit of public benefit is in essence to better respect and safeguard individual's human rights.