How is the fair-return price used in regulating monopolies? Is this an easy regulation to implement? Why or why not?

The fair return price means that regulators will set the price equal to minimum average total cost. It is not easy to implement. Fair-price regulation of monopoly looks simple in theory but is complex in practice. In the actual economy, rate regulation is accompanied by large, expensive rate-setting bureaucracies and mazelike sets of procedures. Also, rate decisions require extensive public input via letters and public hearings and are subject to lengthy legal challenges. Further, because regulatory commissions must set prices sufficiently above costs to create fair returns, regulated monopolists have little incentive to minimize average total costs.