Competition and Choice in Electricity

This text is for those utility planners, executives and regulators who find the developments of the late-1980s and the early-1990s have left them with gaps in their knowledge in matters of policy. This study of the changes taking place in the electricity sector aims to provide the tools necessary for the world of competition in production and choice for consumers. Most of the study is focused on the electric industry, but many ideas are applicable to other regulated industries, particularly gas. The restructuring and privatization of the UK electricity industry has invited many countries around the world to rethink the structure of their own electricity industries and other public utilities. The book examines the concepts central to the new competitive market in electricity, including: industry structure; company structure; stranded costs; trading arrangements; pooling and markets; transmission pricing development of spot markets; and design of contracts.