IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v39y2011i10p6453-6465.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regulated electricity retailing in Chile

Author

Listed:
  • Galetovic, Alexander
  • Muñoz, Cristián M.

Abstract

While some countries have unbundled distribution and retailing, skeptics argue that the physical attributes of electricity make retailers redundant. Instead, it is claimed that passive pass through of wholesale prices plus regulated charges for transmission and distribution suffice for customers to benefit from competitive generation markets. We review the Chilean experience with regulated retailing and pass through of wholesale prices. We argue that when energy wholesale prices are volatile and prices are stabilized, distortions emerge. Regulated retailers gain little by mitigating or correcting them. On the contrary, sometimes price distortions increase their profits. We estimate the cost of three distortions that neither regulated retailers nor the regulator have shown any interest in correcting.

Suggested Citation

  • Galetovic, Alexander & Muñoz, Cristián M., 2011. "Regulated electricity retailing in Chile," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6453-6465, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:10:p:6453-6465
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421511005829
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:scandj:v:91:y:1989:i:4:p:705-21 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Dubin, Jeffrey A & McFadden, Daniel L, 1984. "An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and Consumption," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 345-362, March.
    3. Westley, Glenn D, 1984. "Electricity Demand in a Developing Country," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 66(3), pages 459-467, August.
    4. Beenstock, Michael & Goldin, Ephraim & Nabot, Dan, 1999. "The demand for electricity in Israel," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 168-183, April.
    5. Alan D. Woodland, 1993. "A Micro-Econometric Analysis of the Industrial Demand for Energy in NSW," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 57-90.
    6. Filippini, Massimo & Pachauri, Shonali, 2004. "Elasticities of electricity demand in urban Indian households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 429-436, February.
    7. Littlechild Stephen C., 2002. "Competition in Retail Electricity Supply," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 1-26, June.
    8. Garber, Don & Hogan, Willian W. & Ruff, Larry, 1994. "An efficient electricity market: Using a pool to support real competition," The Electricity Journal, Elsevier, vol. 7(7), pages 48-60, September.
    9. Brannlund, Runar & Ghalwash, Tarek & Nordstrom, Jonas, 2007. "Increased energy efficiency and the rebound effect: Effects on consumption and emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-17, January.
    10. Littlechild, Stephen C, 2003. "Wholesale Spot Price Pass-Through," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 61-91, January.
    11. Carlos Díaz & Alexander Galetovic & Raimundo Soto, "undated". "La crisis eléctrica de 1998-1999: causas, consecuencias y lecciones," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv126, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    12. José Miguel Benavente & Alexander Galetovic & Ricardo Sanhueza & Pablo Serra, 2005. "El costo de la falla residencial en Chile: una estimación usando la curva de demanda," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 20(2), pages 23-40, December.
    13. Ruff, Larry E., 1999. "Competitive Electricity Markets: One Size Should Fit All," The Electricity Journal, Elsevier, vol. 12(9), pages 20-35, November.
    14. Pablo Serra & Ronald Fischer, 2000. "Regulating the Electricity Sector in Latin America," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2000), pages 155-218, August.
    15. Caloghirou, Yannis D. & Mourelatos, Alexi G. & Thompson, Henry, 1997. "Industrial energy substitution during the 1980s in the Greek economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 476-491, October.
    16. José Miguel Benavente & Alexander Galetovic & Ricardo Sanhueza & Pablo Serra, 2005. "Estimando la Demanda Residencial por Electricidad en Chile: El Consumo es Sensible al Precio," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 42(125), pages 31-61.
    17. Reiss, Peter C. & White, Matthew W., 2003. "Demand and Pricing in Electricity Markets: Evidence from San Diego During California's Energy Crisis," Research Papers 1829, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    18. Zachariadis, Theodoros & Pashourtidou, Nicoletta, 2007. "An empirical analysis of electricity consumption in Cyprus," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 183-198, March.
    19. Lijesen, Mark G., 2007. "The real-time price elasticity of electricity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 249-258, March.
    20. repec:bla:scandj:v:88:y:1986:i:3:p:529-46 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Peter C. Reiss & Matthew W. White, 2003. "Demand and Pricing in Electricity Markets: Evidence from San Diego During California's Energy Crisis," NBER Working Papers 9986, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Álvaro Bustos & Alexander Galetovic, 2004. "Monopoly Regulation, Chilean Style: The Efficient-Firm Standard In Theory And Practice," Documentos de Trabajo 182, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    23. Maddala, G S, et al, 1997. "Estimation of Short-Run and Long-Run Elasticities of Energy Demand from Panel Data Using Shrinkage Estimators," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 15(1), pages 90-100, January.
    24. Claudio Agostini & Cecilia Plottier & Eduardo Saavedra, 2009. "La Demanda Residencial por Energía Eléctrica en Chile," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv240, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    25. Littlechild, Stephen, 2009. "Retail competition in electricity markets -- expectations, outcomes and economics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 759-763, February.
    26. Paul L. Joskow, 2008. "Lessons Learned From Electricity Market Liberalization," The Energy Journal, , vol. 29(2_suppl), pages 9-42, December.
    27. Littlechild, S.C., 2000. "Why We Need Electricity Retailers: A Reply to Joskow on Wholesale Spot Price pass-through," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0008, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    28. Al-Faris, Abdul Razak F., 2002. "The demand for electricity in the GCC countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 117-124, January.
    29. Mahmoud A. T Elkhafif, 1992. "Estimating Disaggregated Price Elasticities in Industrial Energy Demand," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 209-218.
    30. Boonekamp, Piet G.M., 2007. "Price elasticities, policy measures and actual developments in household energy consumption - A bottom up analysis for the Netherlands," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 133-157, March.
    31. Holtedahl, Pernille & Joutz, Frederick L., 2004. "Residential electricity demand in Taiwan," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 201-224, March.
    32. Espey, James A. & Espey, Molly, 2004. "Turning on the Lights: A Meta-Analysis of Residential Electricity Demand Elasticities," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-17, April.
    33. Serra, Pablo J., 1997. "Energy pricing under uncertain supply," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 209-223, May.
    34. Defeuilley, Christophe, 2009. "Retail competition in electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 377-386, February.
    35. Joseph J. Spengler, 1950. "Vertical Integration and Antitrust Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(4), pages 347-347.
    36. Serra, Pablo & Fierro, Gabriel, 1997. "Outage costs in Chilean industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 417-434, October.
    37. Ronald Fischer & Alexander Galetovic, 2003. "Regulatory governance and chile's 1998–1999 electricity shortage," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 105-125.
    38. Galetovic, Alexander & Muñoz, Cristián M., 2009. "Estimating deficit probabilities with price-responsive demand in contract-based electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 560-569, February.
    39. Omar O. Chisari (ed.), 2007. "Regulatory Economics and Quantitative Methods," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12517.
    40. Joskow, Paul L. & Hogan, William W., 2000. "Comments," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 123376, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    41. Thomas Bue Bjorner & Henrik Holm Jensen, 2002. "Interfuel Substitution within Industrial Companies: An Analysis Based on Panel Data at Company Level," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 27-50.
    42. Ilmakunnas, Pekka & Törmä, Hannu, 1989. "Structural Change of Factor Substitution in Finnish Manufacturing," Discussion Papers 281, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    43. Donatos, George S. & Mergos, George J., 1991. "Residential demand for electricity: The case of Greece," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 41-47, January.
    44. Roy, Joyashree & Sanstad, Alan H. & Sathaye, Jayant A. & Khaddaria, Raman, 2006. "Substitution and price elasticity estimates using inter-country pooled data in a translog cost model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(5-6), pages 706-719, November.
    45. Glenn D. Westley, 1989. "Nontraditional Partial Adjustment Models and Their Use in Estimating the Residential Demand for Electricity in Costa Rica," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 65(3), pages 254-271.
    46. Bernstein, Sebastian, 1988. "Competition, marginal cost tariffs and spot pricing in the Chilean electric power sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 369-377, August.
    47. Jones, Clifton T, 1995. "A Dynamic Analysis of Interfuel Substitution in U.S. Industrial Energy Demand," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(4), pages 459-465, October.
    48. Galetovic Alexander & Sanhueza Ricardo, 2009. "Vertical Mergers and Competition with a Regulated Bottleneck Monopoly," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, October.
    49. Moya, Oscar E., 2002. "Experience and new challenges in the Chilean generation and transmission sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 575-582, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Humberto Verdejo-Fredes & Fernando García-Muñoz & Francisco Tobar & Cristhian Becker & Mauricio Olivares & Juan Zolezzi & Guillermo Guzmán, 2022. "Retail Electricity Market Liberalization: An Overview of International Experience and Effects on the Chilean Regulated Tariff," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, October.
    2. Palacios M., Sebastián & Saavedra P., Eduardo, 2017. "Alternative policies for the liberalization of retail electricity markets in Chile," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 72-92.
    3. Ljerka Cerovic & Dario Maradin & Sa a Cegar, 2014. "From the Restructuring of the Power Sector to Diversification of Renewable Energy Sources: Preconditions for Efficient and Sustainable Electricity Market," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 4(4), pages 599-609.
    4. Loi, Tian Sheng Allan & Ng, Jia Le, 2018. "Anticipating electricity prices for future needs – Implications for liberalised retail markets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 244-264.
    5. Javier Bustos-Salvagno & Fernando Fuentes H., 2017. "Electricity Interconnection in Chile: Prices versus Costs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Rivera, Nathaly M. & Ruiz-Tagle, J. Cristobal & Spiller, Elisheba, 2024. "The health benefits of solar power generation: Evidence from Chile," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lijesen, Mark G., 2007. "The real-time price elasticity of electricity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 249-258, March.
    2. Galetovic, Alexander & Muñoz, Cristián M., 2009. "Estimating deficit probabilities with price-responsive demand in contract-based electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 560-569, February.
    3. Haitao Yin & Hui Zhou & Kai Zhu, 2016. "Long- and short-run elasticities of residential electricity consumption in China: a partial adjustment model with panel data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(28), pages 2587-2599, June.
    4. World Bank, 2011. "A New Slant on Slopes : Measuring the Benefits of Increased Electricity Access in Developing Countries," World Bank Publications - Reports 2742, The World Bank Group.
    5. Palacios M., Sebastián & Saavedra P., Eduardo, 2017. "Alternative policies for the liberalization of retail electricity markets in Chile," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 72-92.
    6. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Menegaki, Angeliki N., 2019. "A time varying approach on the price elasticity of electricity in India during 1975–2013," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 385-397.
    7. Ma, Yiqun, 2016. "Demand Response Potential of Electricity End-users Facing Real Time Pricing," Research Report 16019-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    8. Athukorala, Wasantha & Wilson, Clevo & Managi, Shunsuke & Karunarathna, Muditha, 2019. "Household demand for electricity: The role of market distortions and prices in competition policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    9. M.Adetunji BABATUNDE & M.Isa SHAUIBU, 2011. "The Demand for Residential Electricity in Nigeria," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 21, pages 1-13.
    10. Claudio Agostini & Cecilia Plottier & Eduardo Saavedra, 2009. "La Demanda Residencial por Energía Eléctrica en Chile," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv240, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    11. Johnsen, Tor Arnt & Olsen, Ole Jess, 2011. "Regulated and unregulated Nordic retail prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3337-3345, June.
    12. repec:bla:opecrv:v:33:y:2009:i:1:p:70-96 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Smyth, Russell & Prasad, Arti, 2007. "Electricity consumption in G7 countries: A panel cointegration analysis of residential demand elasticities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 4485-4494, September.
    14. Halicioglu, Ferda, 2007. "Residential electricity demand dynamics in Turkey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 199-210, March.
    15. Ziramba, Emmanuel, 2008. "The demand for residential electricity in South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3460-3466, September.
    16. Espinosa Acuña, Óscar A. & Vaca González, Paola A. & Avila Forero, Raúl A., 2013. "Elasticidades de demanda por electricidad e impactos macroecon_omicos del precio de la energía eléctrica en Colombia || Elasticity of Electricity Demand and Macroeconomics Impacts of Electricity Price," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 16(1), pages 216-249, December.
    17. Muyi Yang & Yuanying Chi & Kristy Mamaril & Adam Berry & Xunpeng Shi & Liming Zhu, 2020. "Communication-Based Approach for Promoting Energy Consumer Switching: Some Evidence from Ofgem’s Database Trials in the United Kingdom," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-16, October.
    18. Fan Zhang, 2015. "Energy Price Reform and Household Welfare: The Case of Turkey," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    19. Duso, Tomaso & Szücs, Florian, 2017. "Market power and heterogeneous pass-through in German electricity retail," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 354-372.
    20. Jia, Jun-Jun & Guo, Jin & Wei, Chu, 2021. "Elasticities of residential electricity demand in China under increasing-block pricing constraint: New estimation using household survey data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    21. Labandeira, Xavier & Labeaga, José M. & López-Otero, Xiral, 2012. "Estimation of elasticity price of electricity with incomplete information," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 627-633.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retailing Shortages Smart meters;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:10:p:6453-6465. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.