Electric Utilities (electric + utility)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


A study of economic evaluation of demand-side energy storage system in consideration of market clearing price

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING IN JAPAN, Issue 1 2007
Ken Furusawa
Abstract In Japan the electricity market will open on April 1, 2004. Electric utility, Power Producer and Supplier (PPS), and Load Service Entity (LSE) will join the electricity market. LSEs purchase electricity based on the Market Clearing Price (:MCP) from the electricity market. LSEs supply electricity to the customers that contracted with the LSEs on a certain electricity price, and one to the customers that introduced Energy Storage System (:ES) on a time-of-use pricing. It is difficult for LSEs to estimate whether they have any incentive to promote customers to introduce ES or not. This paper evaluates the reduction of LSEs' purchasing cost from the electricity market and other LSEs' purchasing cost by introducing ES to customers. It is clarified which kind of customers has the effect of decreasing LSEs' purchasing cost and how much MCP of the whole power system the demand-side energy storage systems change. Through numerical examples, this paper evaluates the possibility of giving the cost merit to both customers with energy storage systems and LSE by using real data for a year's worth of MCP. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 158(1): 22,35, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20447 [source]


Integrated Environmental and Financial Performance Metrics for Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 3 2007
Simon Thomas
This paper introduces a new measure, based on a study by Trucost and Dr Robert Repetto, combining external environmental costs with established measures of economic value added, and demonstrates how this measure can be incorporated into financial analysis. We propose that external environmental costs are relevant to all investors: universal investors are concerned about the scale of external costs whether or not regulations to internalise them are likely; mainstream investors need to understand external costs as an indication of future regulatory compliance costs; and SRI investors need to evaluate companies on both financial and social performance. The paper illustrates our new measure with data from US electric utilities and illustrates how the environmental exposures of different fund managers and portfolios can be compared. With such measures fund managers can understand and control portfolio-wide environmental risks, demonstrate their environmental credentials quantitatively and objectively and compete for the increasing number of investment mandates that have an environmental component. [source]


Can Diversification Create Value?

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2005
Evidence from the Electric Utility Industry
Despite SEC and state-level resistance, and contrary to the trend pursued by other firms, many electric utilities have diversified into non-electric and unregulated businesses. Moreover, this failure to focus has been rewarded with higher firm values, again contrary to the discounts documented in the literature for other diversifying firms. Prior literature has questioned whether these premiums (or discounts) can be attributed to diversification per se. Rather, these premiums could arise from the characteristics of the diversifying firms, which have then endogenously chosen to diversify. In a new approach, where regulation can make the diversification decision largely exogenous, we examine the investment policies of the comparable electric-segments in the diversifying and non-diversifying utilities. We find that single-segment electric utilities over-invest compared to diversifying utilities, which explains their diversification premiums and implies that diversification can create value by opening up new investment opportunities. [source]


The Russian Coal Industry in Transition: A Linear Programming Application

OPEC ENERGY REVIEW, Issue 1 2001
Bo Jonsson
This paper analyses the restructuring of the Russian steam coal market. The main purpose is to compare the prevailing steam coal flows between mine basins and electric utilities and the actual coal prices with those that would prevail in an efficient market. The analysis is done within a short-run linear programming model. Coal demands and supplies are identified. The objective function that is minimised consists of the delivered costs, i.e. extraction plus transportation costs, subject to exogenous demand requirements and capacity restrictions. We conclude that, in spite of attempted restructuring, the Russian coal steam coal market is still highly inefficient. This is mainly due to the fact that large amounts of coal are delivered over very long distances, a pattern that often cannot be justified in economic terms. Because of cost-inefficient coal deliveries and large subsidies, coal prices are also highly distorted. Given the communist legacies of the past, the restructuring process will probably take considerable time and is unlikely to be successful until there is a fundamental change in the economic and political institutions. [source]


The Changing Role of the State in the Electricity Industry in Brazil, China, and India

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 4 2003
Differences, Explanations
ABSTRACT. Technological breakthroughs, macroeconomic pressures, and advances in economic thought have led to a redefinition of the role of the state from producer to arbiter among private interests. Still, the details of such a redefinition vary among countries. We aim to understand the reasons for such differences and draw their policy implications through a case study of the electricity industry in Brazil, China, and India. Over the past decade, these countries have sought to restructure their state-owned electric utilities. The restructuring effort has led to different outcomes in the three countries. We argue that ideology, institutional arrangements, and the behavior of interest groups lie at the heart of such differences. [source]


VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ECONOMIES IN THE ELECTRIC UTILITY INDUSTRY: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2009
Massimiliano Piacenza
ABSTRACT,:,The empirical literature on the cost structure of the electric utility industry traditionally focused on the measurement of specific technological properties: 1) scale economies in generation or distribution; 2) multi-product (or horizontal) scope economies at one particular stage; 3) multi-stage (or vertical) scope economies. By adopting an integrated approach, which simultaneously considers both horizontal and vertical aspects of the technology, we find the presence, on a sample of Italian electric utilities, of both vertical integration gains and horizontal scope economies at the downstream stage. In the light of recent regulatory reforms aiming at restructuring European electricity markets, our findings have important policy implications as for the proper configuration of the industry. Moreover, this methodology can be usefully applied to the study of the production structure of other public network utilities involved in similar vertical and horizontal reorganization processes. [source]


Firm strategy and the Canadian Voluntary Climate Challenge and Registry (VCR),

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 6 2009
Keith Brouhle
Abstract The Canadian VCR is a climate change mitigation program that relies on firms' desire to signal environmental responsibility to external stakeholders through voluntary information disclosure. We analyze indicators of strategic behavior through three measures of engagement with the VCR program (annual participation behavior, quality of action plans and repeat participation), and test for differences in these measures among firms subjected to different regulatory climates that arise over time, across provinces and across economic sectors. Our findings suggest an increased perception of a regulatory threat in later years, as evidenced by an increase in participation rates, higher quality of action plans and higher rates of repeat participation. We also find higher levels of engagement with the VCR program in provinces with large petroleum (Alberta) and manufacturing (Ontario) industries and that have established provincial level greenhouse gas reporting mechanisms, and in certain sectors such as petroleum, electric utilities and to some extent services. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


The comparative advantage of public ownership: evidence from U.S. electric utilities

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2005
John E. Kwoka Jr
This paper draws on theory suggesting that public enterprise may have an advantage in producing goods and services whose quality attributes are difficult to specify a priori. Using a comprehensive data set of U.S. electric utilities to estimate cost functions, we find that while privately owned systems achieve lower costs in generation, public systems generally have an advantage in the end-user-oriented distribution function with its more non-contractible quality attributes. Other evidence on quality differences by ownership type and by enterprise size supports this distinction. JEL classification: L33, L94 L'avantage comparatif de la propriété publique : résultats pour la production d'électricité auxEtats-Unis., Les études de la performance des entreprises publiques et privées ont produit des résultats qui ne sont pas déterminants. Ce mémoire se fonde sur la théorie qui suggère que l'entreprise publique peut avoir un avantage dans la production de biens et services dont la qualité est difficile à définir a priori. A partir de données extensives sur les producteurs d'électricité aux Etats-Unis, on définit des fonctions de coûts. Il appert que, quand ils sont entre des mains privées, les systèmes de production réussissent à obtenir des coûts de génération plus bas; d'autre part, les systèmes publics ont un avantage pour ce qui est de la fonction de distribution orientée vers les besoins de l'usager à cause des attributs de qualité plus difficiles à contractualiser. D'autres résultats quant aux différences de qualité par types de propriété et par tailles d'entreprises viennent confirmer l'importance de cette distinction. [source]


Sustainable development indicators for the transmission system of an electric utility

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2007
Cory Searcy
Abstract This paper presents a system of sustainable development indicators for the transmission system of a Canadian electric utility. The indicators were developed based on extensive consultations with internal experts at the case utility and external experts in the field of sustainable development indicators. A total of 98 indicators were incorporated into the system, with 70 being developed as a part of this process and 28 representing indicators previously developed by the company. Recognizing the difficulty of working with nearly 100 unstructured measures, four techniques were used to increase the utility of the indicators: (1) the indicators were clustered around eight key priority areas, (2) the indicators were organized according to a hierarchical approach linked to the business planning process, (3) the process of integrating the indicators with existing corporate initiatives was staggered over time and (4) a tiered aggregate was developed. The process of developing the indicators is discussed, with key lessons learned emphasized throughout the paper. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


Economic evaluation of demand-side energy storage systems by using a multi-agent-based electricity market

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING IN JAPAN, Issue 3 2009
Ken Furusawa
Abstract With the wholesale electric power market opened in April 2005, deregulation of the electric power industry in Japan has faced a new competitive environment. In the new environment, Independent Power Producer (IPP), Power Producer and Supplier (PPS), Load Service Entity (LSE), and electric utility can trade electric energy through both bilateral contracts and single-price auction at the electricity market. In general, the market clearing price (MCP) is largely changed by the amount of total load demand in the market. The influence may cause a price spike, and consequently the volatility of MCP will make LSEs and their customers face a risk of higher revenue and cost. DSM is attractive as a means of load leveling, and has an effect on decreasing MCP at peak load period. Introducing Energy Storage systems (ES) is one DSM in order to change demand profile at the customer side. In the case that customers decrease their own demand due to increased MCP, a bidding strategy of generating companies may be changed. As a result, MCP is changed through such complex mechanism. In this paper the authors evaluate MCP by multi-agent. It is considered that customer-side ES has an effect on MCP fluctuation. Through numerical examples, this paper evaluates the influence on MCP by controlling customer-side ES corresponding to variation of MCP. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 167(3): 36,45, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20658 [source]


Power flow congestion relief by using customer-side energy storage systems

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING IN JAPAN, Issue 1 2007
Ken Furusawa
Abstract In recent years, energy storage systems have increasingly been expected as a means of load leveling of the annual load factor. Of course there is an effect of installing the energy storage systems at the substation. But some customers operate their storage system in an integrated way and it also has an effect of increasing the load factor. In this paper the authors proposed that the energy storage systems on the customer side be used for congestion relief on transmission networks. However, it is not clear which kind of customer has the effect of relieving transmission line congestion. First, this paper assumes the authors determine the optimal configuration of energy equipment including energy storage systems. We propose a new contract whereby electric utility subsidizes a part of the entrance cost of the energy storage systems and customers change the output pattern of energy storage according to the request of the electric utility. This paper evaluates the possibility that the contract gives merit to both the electric utility and the customer. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 158(1): 36,45, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20299 [source]


Consumer Ownership in Liberalized Electricity Markets.

ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2002
The Case of Denmark
The continuation of consumer ownership has been an important part of the Danish electricity reform from 1999. Consumer ownership refers to either a consumer co-operative or a municipal utility. Contrary to conventional wisdom, consumer ownership can be supported by solid arguments from modern economic theory of organization. These arguments are presented and confronted with both present and future situation in Denmark. The development of the electricity supply industry after the Second World War has emptied consumer ownership of much of its original content. Nowadays, most consumers consider their electric utility as the (monopoly) supplier of a good they demand and not as something they own. Therefore, obligatory consumer ownership as specified in the new Danish Electricity Act of 1999 cannot be relied on to guarantee security of supply and reasonable prices for small consumers [source]