Electricity Reform
Subtitle: Power Generation Costs and Investment
By: International Energy Agency
Series: Energy market reform; Energy Market Reform
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Paris
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource]:
Number of pages: 124
ISBN-13: 9789264188495
Subjects: Force and energy; Power (Mechanics); Power resources
Description: This booklet considers the impact of electricity market reform on power generation costs and investment. Governments throughout the OECD are restructuring their electricity supply industries, reducing the direct role of the state and introducing competition. These changes are designed to increase the economic efficiency of electricity supply and to lower prices for consumers. Maintaining adequate investment in new generation capacity is another important objective. The study concludes that market reform is likely to lead to reduced generation costs. Reformed systems should also preserve system reliability and adequacy of investment. Although the introduction of competition in electricity supply is relatively new, preliminary results show that reform brings pressure to reduce investment and operating costs. The increased transparency of public policy objectives and costs, combined with the fact that greater risks are allocated to investors is an important factor in reducing costs. If the new competitive market is effectively regulated and if it allows customers to make their own choices about supply and reliability, adequate investment will continue and security of supply can be maintained. This is one in a series of short publications by the IEA on energy market reforms.<!-- -->
Table of contents: title: 1. Executive Summary; title: 2. Impacts of Electricity Market Liberalisation on Generation Costs; title: 3. Investment in Power Generating Capacity in Competitive Electricity Markets; title: Appendix: Energy Investment; title: References