We examine the issue of why some parent companies of U.S. electric utilities have expanded into domestic independent power production (IPP) but not others. We evaluate the conjecture that the parent companies who have chosen to participate in recently restructured U.S. wholesale electricity markets are those with the most generation cost advantages. Specifically, we empirically investigate the link between apparent advantages in two types of generation costs operation & maintenance (O&M) and capital and the IPP participation decision. We use electric utility data from FERC Form 1 and combine it with IPP data collected from various industry sources. The data is analyzed using both a descriptive approach and a simple, empirical competitive entry model. We find that utilities with lower O&M costs are more likely to expand into IPP. Also, utility financial characteristics, reflecting possible capital cost advantages, seem to matter mainly for the largest utilities.
Download Info
To our knowledge, this item is not available for
download. To find whether it is available, there are three
options:
1. Check below under "Related research" whether another version of this item is available online.
2. Check on the provider's web page
whether it is in fact available.
3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be
available.
Publisher Info
Article provided by International Association for Energy Economics in its journal The Energy Journal.
Did you know? Each page is provided with a technical contact, in case something is not right with the supplied information. See under "publisher info".