Extract

This chapter aims at providing postal stakeholders with lessons from a practical experience of a net cost calculation closely related to, but different from, the net cost of the Universal Service Obligation (USO). Calculating a net cost is required when a designated operator, providing universal service or any service of general economic interest (SGEI), benefits from public or sectoral funds through a compensation mechanism. There is a wealth of economic literature tackling the issue of the cost of the USO, developing theoretical arguments favoring the net cost methodology (Crew and Kleindorfer, 1998; NERA, 1998; Cremer et al., 2000; Panzar, 2000). This methodology, equivalent to calculating the profitability cost (PC), has been considered as the appropriate standard that gives the right incentives to the operator in charge of the USO, and prevents competitive distortions. This framework applies in particular to the calculation of the cost of the USO, as set by the Third Postal Directive 2008/06/EC (see Toledano, 2012 for a historical perspective), but also to any net cost calculation of the compensation for SGEI (Altmark judgment).