Question+120

A natural monopoly exists when there is great scope for economies of scale to be exploited over a very large range of output. A diagram for a natural monopoly can be seen below:

 Natural monopolies tend to be associated with industries where there is a high ratio of fixed to variable costs. For example, the fixed costs of establishing a national distribution network for a product might be enormous, but the marginal (variable) cost of supplying extra units of output may be very small.

Utilities are often natural monopolies. In industries with a standardized product and economies of scale, a natural monopoly often arises. In the case of electricity, all companies provide the same product, the infrastructure required is immense, and the cost of adding one more customer is negligible, up to a point. Adding one more customer may increase the company's revenue and lowers the average cost of providing for the company's customer base. So long as the average cost of serving customers is decreasing, the larger firm more efficiently serves the entire customer base.