Vertical Integration in Restructured Electricity Markets: Measuring Market Efficiency and Firm Conduct

Reevaluation of Vertical Integration and Unbundling in Restructured Electricity Markets

Vertical Integration and Market Power in Electricity Markets

Vertical separation of generation from electricity retailing has often been required as a condition of electricity market liberalisation. A well-developed and liquid contracts market is similarly suggested as necessary to manage the resulting wholesale market risks, which risks are further exacerbated by competition. Such contracts markets are rare, however, and increasingly evidence is emergin...

Market Power and Price Volatility in Restructured Markets for Electricity

The restructured market for electricity in the UK has experienced a systematic pattern of price spikes associated with the use of market power by the two dominant generators. Partly in response to this problem, the share of capacity owned by any individual generator after restructuring was limited in Victoria, Australia. As a result, a much more competitive market resulted with prices substanti...

Hedging and Vertical Integration in Electricity Markets

This paper analyzes the interactions between competitive (wholesale) spot, retail, and forward markets and vertical integration in electricity markets. We develop an equilibrium model with producers, retailers, and traders to study and quantify the impact of forward markets and vertical integration on prices, risk premia and retail market shares. We point out that forward hedging and vertical i...

Market Organization and Efficiency in Electricity Markets

Electricity markets exhibit two different forms of organization: decentralized bilateral trading and centralized auction markets. Using detailed data on prices, quantities, and production costs, we examine how market outcomes changed when a large region in the Eastern US rapidly switched from a bilateral system of trade to an auction market design in 2004. Although economic theory yields ambigu...