Regulating Power The Economics Of Electrictiy In The Information Age

Author : Carl Pechman
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461532582
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Regulating Power: The Economics of Electrictiy in the Information Age written by Carl Pechman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modem industrial society functions with the expectation that electricity will be available when required. By law, electric utilities have the obligation to provide electricity to customers in a "safe and adequate" manner. In exchange for this obligation, utilities are granted a monopoly right to provide electricity to customers within well-defmed service territories. However, utilities are not unfettered in their monopoly power; public utility commissions regulate the relationship between a utility and its customers and limit profits to a "fair rate of return on invested capital. " From its inception through the late 1970s, the electric utility industry's opera tional paradigm was to continue marketing electricity to customers and to build power plants to meet customer needs. This growth was facilitated by a U. S. energy policy predicated upon the assumption that sustained electric growth was causally linked to social welfare (Lovins, 1977). The electric utility industry is now in transition from a vertically integrated monopoly to a more competitive market. Of the three primary components (generation, transmission, and distribution) of the traditional vertically integrated monopoly, generation is leading this transformation. The desired outcome is a more efficient market for the provision of electric service, ultimately resulting in lower costs to customers. This book focuses on impediments to this transformation. In partiCUlar, it argues that information control is a form of market power that inhibits the evolution of the market. The analysis is presented within the context of the transformation of the U. S.

Author : Carl Pechman
Publisher : Kluwer Academic Pub
ISBN 13 : 0792393473
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Regulating Power written by Carl Pechman and published by Kluwer Academic Pub. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the economics of an industry that has become a critical component of modern life - the electric utility industry. The public nature of electricity has affected the development of the industry, both private and public. While this book focuses on private utilities, it recognizes the potential for a resurgence of public ownership. The objective of the book is to examine factors that will affect the evolution of markets for power. Of critical importance is the role of information, which is required for making and evaluating decisions in power markets. This book demonstrates that utilities can exploit information as a source of market power, impeding the development of more competitive and efficient markets. To a large extent the source of the utilities' market power is the ability to specify computer models used in the planning, pricing and operation of markets for electricity. A number of concepts related to the use and control of information and models are developed in this book.

Author : Lorrin Philipson
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 9780824719203
Total Pages : 392 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Understanding Electric Utilities and De-Regulation written by Lorrin Philipson and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1998-09-10 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a thorough review of the past, present and future of the wholesale and retail electic power industry. It includes tutorial chapters on electric utility function and structure, electricity and power, the uses of electric power, and more. The authors provide a simple but complete discussion of de-regulation and explain the structure of the de-regulated electric power industry, including the competitive wholesale and retail levels, the retail energy services sector, and more.

Author : Warren Young
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461549639
Total Pages : 133 pages
Book Rating : 4.35/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Atomic Energy Costing written by Warren Young and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the centennial year of the birth of Sir John Cockcroft, first master of my Cam bridge College, Churchill, and the first man to split the atomic nucleus by artificial means, it is indeed relevant to consider the outcome of his efforts at developing atomic power. From the earliest days of the construction of Calder Hall-the first nuclear power station in Britain-and the establishment of the British Atomic Re search Center at Harwell, and the Chalk River Nuclear Station in Canada, through the "Windscale" nuclear accident in Britain, up to the present, when some 20% of UK energy is derived from nuclear power, the Cockcroft legacy is felt. As the British historian Mark Goldie put it, in the "pure and sanguine 1950s," Cockcroft had almost absolute "faith in 'peaceful atoms' and in the boundless, almost cost free, energy that atoms would soon produce" (Goldie, 1997, p. 21). But, as the eminent economist Frank Hahn recalled, "the only failing Cockcroft had" was "that he wasn't up to much in economics. " Indeed, Hahn recalled that he "had to explain" to Cockcroft "the economic notion of optimum durability" as it related to the "interest rate" in the context of building Churchill College with "hand-made bricks. " After his explana tion, as Hahn recalled "Cockcroft smiled and proceeded to order more hand-made bricks" (Hahn, 1997, p. 27).

Author : R.L. Gordon
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461526205
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Regulation and Economic Analysis written by R.L. Gordon and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regulation and Economic Analysis: A Critique Over Two Centuries argues that long experience with the practice of regulation creates a broad anti-intervention consensus among economists. This consensus is based on comparison of real intervention to real markets rather than an ideological preconception. It is shown that economic theory can support all possible positions on intervention. Much theory is too abstract to support any policy position; many arguments about how intervention might help contain qualifications expressing doubts about whether the potential can be realized; many theories illustrate the drawbacks of intervention. The vast literature on these issues concentrates either on specific cases or polemics that exaggerate both sides of the argument. Regulation and Economic Analysis seeks to show the depth of the discontent, develop interpretations of economic theory that follow from skepticism about statism and provide selected illustrations. The discussion begins with examination of general equilibrium theory and proceeds to discuss market failure with stress on monopoly and particularly what is deemed excessive concern with predatory behavior. International trade issues, transaction costs, property rights, economic theories of government, the role of special institutions such as contracts, the defects of macroeconomic and equity arguments for regulating individual markets, environmental economics and the defects of public land management policies are examined.

Author : Michael A. Crew
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 146155117X
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Regulation Under Increasing Competition written by Michael A. Crew and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regulation Under Increasing Competition brings together practitioners, regulators, and economists to examine the important policy and regulatory issues facing the telecommunications and electricity industries. This volume reviews such topics as competitive entry, stranded costs, pricing and market mechanisms. It provides a unique perspective on problems in a newly deregulated environment.

Author : Georges Zaccour
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461557291
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Deregulation of Electric Utilities written by Georges Zaccour and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deregulation of Electric Utilities reviews the main issues relating to the changing environment in the utility industry. Topics covered in depth include compensation for stranded costs, efficiency gains, institutional design, pricing, economics of scale, and network externalities. In addition, this book assesses early experiences in electricity deregulation in continental Europe, New Zealand, North America, and the United Kingdom.

Author : Michael A. Crew
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461527821
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Incentive Regulation for Public Utilities written by Michael A. Crew and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is based on two seminars held at Rutgers on October 22, 1993, and May 6, 1994 entitled `Incentive Regulation for Public Utilities'. These contributions by leading scholars and practitioners represent some of the best new research in public utility economics and include topics such as the theory of incentive regulation, dynamic pricing, transfer pricing, issues in law and economics, pricing priority service, and energy utility resource planning.

Author : M.B. Coate
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 146131397X
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Economics of the Antitrust Process written by M.B. Coate and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the antitrust process and how that process affects the efficiency of antitrust law enforcement. The contributors share a wide range of experiences in the antitrust process, including academia, the legal environment, and both private and public sectors. The book deals first with merger activities, followed by non-merger enforcement initiatives and concludes with an examination of the future role of antitrust.

Author : Thomas A. Abbott III
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461522196
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Health Care Policy and Regulation written by Thomas A. Abbott III and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 5 care reforms. Part II: Price Regulation The second partofthis volume examines the role ofprice regulation in controlling health care costs. It contains three chapters. In chapter seven, I examine the alternatives for regulating pharmaceutical prices. In chapter eight, Jack Hadley examines the impactofvarious forms ofhospital price regulation; while in chapter nine,MarkPaulyexaminestheroleofpriceregulation incontrollingphysician fees. Chapter seven focuses on the issue of regulating pharmaceutical prices. There are two key issues examined in this paper. First, is there a clear need for price regulation, and second, can price regulation work in this industry? In response to the first question, I come to the conclusion that the proponents ofprice regulation have not really proven their case. Although the financial returns in the pharmaceu tical industry have been slightly higher than expected during the 1970s and 1980s, there is not overwhelming evidence of"price gouging" or excessive profits on the part of the industry. In response to the second question, the answer is clearly no. The traditional approaches to price regulation will not have the intended affect of eliminating excess profits from the industry while maintaining the incentives for research and development. First, rate-of-return regulation, the most natural approach, would result in many adverse incentives-includingexcessive investment in research and developmentinorderto inflatetheratebaseused tocalculatedtheallowablereturns.