IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/albaec/2020_004.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Residential Electricity Pricing in Texas’s Competitive Retail Market

Author

Listed:
  • Brown, David P.

    (University of Alberta, Department of Economics)

  • Tsai, Chen-Hao

    (Midcontinent Independent System Operator)

  • Woo, Chi-Keung

    (Education University of Hong Kong)

  • Zarnikau, Jay

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Zhu, Shuangshuang

    (Frontier Energy)

Abstract

Using a large sample of residential retail electricity plans advertised on the Public Utility Commission of Texas’s Power-to-Choose website between during January 2014 to December 2018, our panel regression analysis finds changes in the projected wholesale price of electricity are not fully reflected as changes in these plans’ price quotes. The estimated rates of wholesale price pass-through range from 43% to 45%. Retailers tend to charge risk premia that increase with wholesale price volatility. Prepayment and time-of-use plans likely contain price premia. The price premia associated with higher-than-average renewable energy contents in the early years of our sample have largely vanished by 2018. Longer contract terms come at a higher price. Finally, increased customer switching tends to reduce retail price quotes, implying that Texas’s residential retail market can be made more price competitive through consumer education on plan choices and dissemination of credible price information.

Suggested Citation

  • Brown, David P. & Tsai, Chen-Hao & Woo, Chi-Keung & Zarnikau, Jay & Zhu, Shuangshuang, 2020. "Residential Electricity Pricing in Texas’s Competitive Retail Market," Working Papers 2020-4, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:albaec:2020_004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~econwps/2020/wp2020-04.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emi Nakamura & Dawit Zerom, 2010. "Accounting for Incomplete Pass-Through," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(3), pages 1192-1230.
    2. Kelvin Lancaster, 1990. "The Economics of Product Variety: A Survey," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 189-206.
    3. Natalia Fabra & Mar Reguant, 2014. "Pass-Through of Emissions Costs in Electricity Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2872-2899, September.
    4. Chi-Keung Woo & Orans, Ren & Horii, Brian & Peter Chow, 1995. "Pareto-superior time-of-use rate option for industrial firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 267-272, September.
    5. C-K Woo & I Horowitz & B Horii & R I Karimov, 2004. "The efficient frontier for spot and forward purchases: an application to electricity," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 55(11), pages 1130-1136, November.
    6. Deng, S.J. & Oren, S.S., 2006. "Electricity derivatives and risk management," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 940-953.
    7. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    8. Andrew A. Goett & Kathleen Hudson & Kenneth E. Train, 2000. "Customers' Choice Among Retail Energy Suppliers: The Willingness-to-Pay for Service Attributes," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 1-28.
    9. Woo, C.K. & Sreedharan, P. & Hargreaves, J. & Kahrl, F. & Wang, J. & Horowitz, I., 2014. "A review of electricity product differentiation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 262-272.
    10. Severin Borenstein & James Bushnell, 2015. "The US Electricity Industry After 20 Years of Restructuring," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 437-463, August.
    11. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Rebecca Hellerstein, 2013. "A Structural Approach to Identifying the Sources of Local Currency Price Stability," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(1), pages 175-210.
    12. Peter Cramton, 2017. "Electricity market design," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(4), pages 589-612.
    13. Roger E. Bohn & Michael C. Caramanis & Fred C. Schweppe, 1984. "Optimal Pricing in Electrical Networks over Space and Time," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(3), pages 360-376, Autumn.
    14. Hartley, Peter R. & Medlock, Kenneth B. & Jankovska, Olivera, 2019. "Electricity reform and retail pricing in Texas," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-11.
    15. Chris M. Wilson & Catherine Waddams Price, 2010. "Do consumers switch to the best supplier?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 62(4), pages 647-668, October.
    16. Hendrik Bessembinder & Michael L. Lemmon, 2002. "Equilibrium Pricing and Optimal Hedging in Electricity Forward Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(3), pages 1347-1382, June.
    17. Monica Giulietti & Michael Waterson & Matthijs Wildenbeest, 2014. "Estimation of Search Frictions in the British Electricity Market," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 555-590, December.
    18. Catherine Waddams Price & Catherine Webster & Minyan Zhu, 2013. "Searching and Switching: Empirical estimates of consumer behaviour in regulated markets," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2013-11, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    19. Severin Borenstein & A. Colin Cameron & Richard Gilbert, 1997. "Do Gasoline Prices Respond Asymmetrically to Crude Oil Price Changes?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 305-339.
    20. Zarnikau, J. & Woo, C.K. & Zhu, S. & Tsai, C.H., 2019. "Market price behavior of wholesale electricity products: Texas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 418-428.
    21. Woo, C.K. & Milstein, I. & Tishler, A. & Zarnikau, J., 2019. "A wholesale electricity market design sans missing money and price manipulation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    22. Chi‐Keung Woo & Ira Horowitz & Arne Olson & Andrew DeBenedictis & David Miller & Jack Moore, 2011. "Cross‐hedging and forward‐contract pricing of electricity in the Pacific Northwest," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 265-279, June.
    23. Woo, Chi-Keung & Horowitz, Ira & Hoang, Khoa, 2001. "Cross hedging and forward-contract pricing of electricity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-15, January.
    24. Woo, Chi-Keung & Horowitz, Ira & Olson, Arne & Horii, Brian & Baskette, Carmen, 2006. "Efficient frontiers for electricity procurement by an LDC with multiple purchase options," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 70-80, January.
    25. Mirza, Faisal Mehmood & Bergland, Olvar, 2012. "Pass-through of wholesale price to the end user retail price in the Norwegian electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 2003-2012.
    26. Ali Hortaçsu & Seyed Ali Madanizadeh & Steven L. Puller, 2017. "Power to Choose? An Analysis of Consumer Inertia in the Residential Electricity Market," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 192-226, November.
    27. Andrew Eckert, 2013. "Empirical Studies Of Gasoline Retailing: A Guide To The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 140-166, February.
    28. repec:aei:rpbook:24884 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Francis A. Longstaff & Ashley W. Wang, 2004. "Electricity Forward Prices: A High-Frequency Empirical Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1877-1900, August.
    30. Woo, C.K. & Zarnikau, J., 2019. "Renewable energy's vanishing premium in Texas's retail electricity pricing plans," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 764-770.
    31. Zarnikau, Jay, 2011. "Successful renewable energy development in a competitive electricity market: A Texas case study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 3906-3913, July.
    32. Mulder, Machiel & Willems, Bert, 2019. "The Dutch retail electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 228-239.
    33. Paul R. Kleindorfer & Lide Li, 2005. "Multi-Period VaR-Constrained Portfolio Optimization with Applications to the Electric Power Sector," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 1-26.
    34. Woo, Chi-Keung & Karimov, Rouslan I. & Horowitz, Ira, 2004. "Managing electricity procurement cost and risk by a local distribution company," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 635-645, March.
    35. Andrew N. Kleit & L. Lynne Kiesling, 2009. "Electricity Restructuring: The Texas Story," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 50474, September.
    36. Woo, C.K. & Kollman, E. & Orans, R. & Price, S. & Horii, B., 2008. "Now that California has AMI, what can the state do with it?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 1366-1374, April.
    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. Cao, K.H. & Qi, H.S. & Li, R. & Woo, C.K. & Tishler, A. & Zarnikau, J., 2023. "An experiment in own-price elasticity estimation for non-residential electricity demand in the U.S," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Chi-Keung Woo & Jay Zarnikau & Asher Tishler & Kang Hua Cao, 2022. "Insuring a Small Retail Electric Provider’s Procurement Cost Risk in Texas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Massimo Dragotto & Marco Magnani & Paola Valbonesi, 2021. "Consumer inertia and firm incumbency in liberalised retail electricity markets: an empirical investigation," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0277, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    4. Li, Raymond & Woo, Chi-Keung & Cox, Kevin, 2021. "How price-responsive is residential retail electricity demand in the US?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    5. Wang, Li & Zhang, Xin-Hua & Zhang, Yue-Jun, 2023. "Designing the pricing mechanism of residents’ self-selection sales electricity based on household size," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 860-878.
    6. Simeone, Christina E. & Lange, Ian & Gilbert, Ben, 2023. "Pass-through in residential retail electricity competition: Evidence from Pennsylvania," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Zhou, Wenhao & Li, Hailin & Zhang, Zhiwei, 2022. "A novel seasonal fractional grey model for predicting electricity demand: A case study of Zhejiang in China," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 128-147.
    8. Cao, K.H. & Qi, H.S. & Tsai, C.H. & Woo, C.K. & Zarnikau, J., 2021. "Energy trading efficiency in the US Midcontinent electricity markets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    9. Guo, Bowei & Weeks, Melvyn, 2022. "Dynamic tariffs, demand response, and regulation in retail electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Zarnikau, J. & Cao, K.H. & Qi, H.S. & Woo, C.K., 2023. "Has retail competition reduced residential electricity prices in Texas?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(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. Cao, K.H. & Qi, H.S. & Tsai, C.H. & Woo, C.K. & Zarnikau, J., 2021. "Energy trading efficiency in the US Midcontinent electricity markets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    2. Woo, C.K. & Sreedharan, P. & Hargreaves, J. & Kahrl, F. & Wang, J. & Horowitz, I., 2014. "A review of electricity product differentiation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 262-272.
    3. Woo, C.K. & Chen, Y. & Olson, A. & Moore, J. & Schlag, N. & Ong, A. & Ho, T., 2017. "Electricity price behavior and carbon trading: New evidence from California," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 531-543.
    4. Woo, C.K. & Shiu, A. & Liu, Y. & Luo, X. & Zarnikau, J., 2018. "Consumption effects of an electricity decarbonization policy: Hong Kong," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 887-902.
    5. Woo, C.K. & Milstein, I. & Tishler, A. & Zarnikau, J., 2019. "A wholesale electricity market design sans missing money and price manipulation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    6. Woo, C.K. & Moore, J. & Schneiderman, B. & Ho, T. & Olson, A. & Alagappan, L. & Chawla, K. & Toyama, N. & Zarnikau, J., 2016. "Merit-order effects of renewable energy and price divergence in California’s day-ahead and real-time electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 299-312.
    7. Woo, C.K. & Zarnikau, J. & Moore, J. & Horowitz, I., 2011. "Wind generation and zonal-market price divergence: Evidence from Texas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 3928-3938, July.
    8. Chi-Keung Woo & Jay Zarnikau & Asher Tishler & Kang Hua Cao, 2022. "Insuring a Small Retail Electric Provider’s Procurement Cost Risk in Texas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Zarnikau, J. & Woo, C.K. & Zhu, S. & Tsai, C.H., 2019. "Market price behavior of wholesale electricity products: Texas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 418-428.
    10. Chi-Keung Woo, Ira Horowitz, Jay Zarnikau, Jack Moore, Brendan Schneiderman, Tony Ho, and Eric Leung, 2016. "What Moves the Ex Post Variable Profit of Natural-Gas-Fired Generation in California?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    11. 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.
    12. Correa-Giraldo, Manuel & Garcia-Rendon, John J. & Perez, Alex, 2021. "Strategic behaviors and transfer of wholesale costs to retail prices in the electricity market: Evidence from Colombia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    13. Horowitz, I. & Woo, C.K., 2006. "Designing Pareto-superior demand-response rate options," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1040-1051.
    14. Zare, Kazem & Moghaddam, Mohsen Parsa & Sheikh El Eslami, Mohammad Kazem, 2010. "Electricity procurement for large consumers based on Information Gap Decision Theory," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 234-242, January.
    15. Zarnikau, J. & Tsai, C.H. & Woo, C.K., 2020. "Determinants of the wholesale prices of energy and ancillary services in the U.S. Midcontinent electricity market," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    16. Deng, Shi-Jie & Xu, Li, 2009. "Mean-risk efficient portfolio analysis of demand response and supply resources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1523-1529.
    17. Zarnikau, J. & Cao, K.H. & Qi, H.S. & Woo, C.K., 2023. "Has retail competition reduced residential electricity prices in Texas?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    18. Chi-Keung Woo, Ira Horowitz, Brian Horii, Ren Orans, and Jay Zarnikau, 2012. "Blowing in the Wind: Vanishing Payoffs of a Tolling Agreement for Natural-gas-fired Generation of Electricity in Texas," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    19. Woo, C.K. & Zarnikau, J., 2019. "Renewable energy's vanishing premium in Texas's retail electricity pricing plans," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 764-770.
    20. Yu, Dongmin & liu, Huanan & Bresser, Charis, 2018. "Peak load management based on hybrid power generation and demand response," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 969-985.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retail Electricity Pricing; Procurement Cost Pass-Through; Risk Premium; Renewable Premium; ERCOT;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • Q31 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ris:albaec:2020_004. 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: Joseph Marchand (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deualca.html .

    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.