Cato Jorgensen. Regulatory economist.
Seventeen years in infrastructure pricing – ten inside the regulator, seven advising since. I work with regulator and utility teams: from regulatory policy to proposal development and price reviews. Water, energy and telco, Australia-wide.
What I do
Regulatory policy, proposals and pricing.
The work spans regulatory policy and frameworks, proposal strategy, the development of submissions and business cases – framing, narrative and drafting – and the technical analysis underneath. Most engagements have me taking responsibility for a defined workstream and delivering it with the client’s team. I spent a decade at IPART and have spent the seven years since advising utilities and supporting regulators, so I am rarely starting from scratch.
Who I work with
Regulators and regulated utilities.
Regulators
Price review and expenditure assessment support: from taking a workstream within the review to a technical read on a specific question. I know the process, the models and the drafting standard from the inside.
Regulated utilities
Proposal strategy and narrative, submission and business case development, technical analysis, drafting and peer review, and post-implementation reviews of past proposal projects. I will tell you where a case is exposed while there is still time to fix it.
I never act on both sides of the same matter, and I am transparent about past work wherever a conflict could be perceived. If your question touches a regulated price, it is probably in scope.
Sectors
Water, energy and telecommunications.
My deepest expertise is in water pricing, with engagements across NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT. Since 2019 almost half of my advisory work has been for energy networks and the NBN. The same building-block framework runs through all three sectors.
About
One senior practitioner. Seventeen years in infrastructure pricing.
I run Cato Economics from Sydney: a decade at the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, then seven years advising utilities and supporting regulators – at KPMG, at New North Insights, and now independently.
Most recently, IPART engaged me as expert adviser on its 2026 review of WaterNSW’s Broken Hill pipeline prices and on its review of retail fuel prices in New South Wales.
Availability.
I take on a small number of engagements at a time. If a review or submission is coming up, an early conversation is worth having – send me an email or a Teams message and we will find a time.
Contact