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Does Competition Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on U.S. Electric Generation Efficiency

Author

Listed:
  • Markiewicz, K.
  • Rose, N.L.
  • Wolfram, C.

Abstract

This paper explores the empirical effects of competition on technical efficiency in the context of electricity industry restructuring. Restructuring programs adopted by many U.S. states made utilities residual claimants to cost savings and increased their exposure to competitive markets. We estimate the impact of these changes on annual generating plant-level input demand for non-fuel operating expenses, the number of employees and fuel use. We find that municipally-owned plants, whose owners were for the most part unaffected by restructuring, experienced the smallest efficiency gains over the past decade. Investor-owned utility plants in states that restructured their wholesale electricity markets had the largest reductions in nonfuel operating expenses and employment, while investor-owned plants in nonrestructuring states fell between these extremes. The analysis also highlights the substantive importance of treating the simultaneity of input and output decisions, which we do through an instrumental variables approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Markiewicz, K. & Rose, N.L. & Wolfram, C., 2004. "Does Competition Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on U.S. Electric Generation Efficiency," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0472, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cam:camdae:0472
    Note: CMI, IO
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    File URL: http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/electricity/publications/wp/ep67.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Gaffney, F. & Deane, J.P. & Gallachóir, B.P.Ó, 2017. "A 100 year review of electricity policy in Ireland (1916–2015)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 67-79.
    2. John Kwoka, 2008. "Restructuring the U.S. Electric Power Sector: A Review of Recent Studies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 32(3), pages 165-196, May.
    3. Davis, Steven J. & Rivera-Batiz, Luis, 2005. "The Climate for Business Development and Employment Growth in Puerto Rico," Working Papers 200, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    4. Machiel Mulder & Gijsbert Zwart, 2006. "Government involvement in liberalised gas markets; a welfare-economic analysis of Dutch gas-depletion policy," CPB Document 110.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    5. Hugh van der Mandele & Arjen C. van Witteloostuijn, 2013. "Free to Fail," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15112.
    6. Xavier Vives, 2008. "Innovation And Competitive Pressure," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 419-469, December.
    7. Jamasb, T. & Pollitt, M., 2005. "Deregulation and R&D in Network Industries: The Case of the Electricity Industry," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0533, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    8. Machiel Mulder & Victoria Shestalova & Mark Lijesen, 2005. "Vertical separation of the energy-distribution industry; an assessment of several options for unbundling," CPB Document 84.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    9. Amir Jahan Khan, 2014. "The Comparative Efficiency of Public and Private Power Plants in Pakistan’s Electricity Industry," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 19(2), pages 1-26, July-Dec.
    10. Machiel Mulder & Victoria Shestalova & Mark Lijesen, 2005. "Vertical separation of the energy-distribution industry; an assessment of several options for unbundling," CPB Document 84, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    11. Supawat Rungsuriyawiboon & Spiro Stefanou, 2008. "The dynamics of efficiency and productivity growth in U.S. electric utilities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 177-190, December.
    12. Fan Zhang, 2007. "Does Electricity Restructuring Work? Evidence From The U.S. Nuclear Energy Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 397-418, September.
    13. John Kwoka & Michael Pollitt, 2007. "Industry Restructuring, Mergers and Efficiency: Evidence from Electric Power," Working Papers EPRG 0708, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    14. Ian Lange & Allen Bellas, 2006. "Policy Innovation Impacts on Scrubber Electricity Usage," NCEE Working Paper Series 200601, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Apr 2006.
    15. Machiel Mulder & Gijsbert Zwart, 2006. "Government involvement in liberalised gas markets; a welfare-economic analysis of Dutch gas-depletion policy," CPB Document 110, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    16. Goto, Mika & Makhija, Anil K., 2007. "The Impact of Competition and Corporate Structure on Productive Efficiency: The Case of the U.S. Electric Utility Industry, 1990-2004," Working Paper Series 2007-10, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    17. FitzGerald, John & Keeney, Mary J. & McCarthy, Niamh & O'Malley, Eoin & Scott, Susan, 2005. "Aspects of Irish Energy Policy," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number PRS57.
    18. Chen, Wei-Ming, 2019. "The U.S. electricity market twenty years after restructuring: A review experience in the state of Delaware," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 24-32.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Efficiency; Production; Competition; Electricity restructuring; Electric Generation; Regulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L43 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

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