Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Regulating Power: The Economics of Electrictiy in the Information Age

The Economics of Electricity in the Information Age

  • Book
  • © 1993

Overview

Authors:
  1. Carl Pechman

    1. New York State Department of Public Service, Albany, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy (TREP, volume 15)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 1-8

  3. The Actors in the Market Governance Structure

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 9-31

  4. The Regulatory Process: Principals, Agents, and Information Flows

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 33-54

  5. The Dynamics of Inter-Utility Cooperation

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 55-76

  6. Model-Limited Choice and the Determination of the Need for Generation Capacity

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 77-97

  7. Non-Utility Generators and Markets for Power

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 99-120

  8. Breaking the Paradigm of Unfettered Growth: The Development of the Conservation Option

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 121-147

  9. The Changing Paradigm of Planning

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 149-173

  10. Toward a Positive Theory of Regulation

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 175-184

  11. Conclusions

    • Carl Pechman
    Pages 185-192

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 193-229
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

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.

Authors and Affiliations

  • New York State Department of Public Service, Albany, USA

    Carl Pechman

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Regulating Power: The Economics of Electrictiy in the Information Age

  • Book Subtitle: The Economics of Electricity in the Information Age

  • Authors: Carl Pechman

  • Series Title: Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3258-3

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Kluwer Academic Publishers 1993

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-7923-9347-4Published: 31 May 1993

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4613-6433-7Published: 23 October 2012

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4615-3258-3Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 2730-7468

  • Series E-ISSN: 2730-7476

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 229

  • Topics: Industrial Organization, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Management

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation