IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v41y2020i3p119-142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Avoiding Pitfalls in China’s Electricity Sector Reforms

Author

Listed:
  • Michael R. Davidson
  • Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga

Abstract

China has recently reinvigorated reforms to its electricity sector, focusing on increasing the role of markets and improving regulation. While restructuring an electricity sector is difficult and can require years of detailed planning, China’s approach relies upon broad central guidelines with many details and initiatives left to provincial governments. We assess the current state of reform efforts through the lens of five “pitfalls†based on well-established regulatory economics literature and international lessons, focusing on contract structure, system operation, and regulation. We find that while market efforts are likely to achieve efficiency gains with respect to the planned system, they may fall short of crucial functions of a market, such as incentivizing flexibility given increasing renewable energy penetrations. Making markets work will likely require a stronger centralization of market design and regulatory oversight authorities.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael R. Davidson & Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, 2020. "Avoiding Pitfalls in China’s Electricity Sector Reforms," The Energy Journal, , vol. 41(3), pages 119-142, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:41:y:2020:i:3:p:119-142
    DOI: 10.5547/01956574.41.3.mdav
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/01956574.41.3.mdav
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/01956574.41.3.mdav?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pollitt, M. & Yang, C-H. & Chen, H., 2017. "Reforming the Chinese Electricity Supply Sector: Lessons from International Experience," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1713, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Anupama Sen, Rabindra Nepal, and Tooraj Jamasb, 2018. "Have Model, Will Reform? Assessing the Outcome of Electricity Reforms in Non-OECD Asia," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    3. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, December.
    4. Kumar, Alok & Chatterjee, Sushanta, 2012. "Electricity Sector in India: Policy and Regulation," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198082279, Decembrie.
    5. Tooraj Jamasb & Rabindra Nepal & Govinda R. Timilsina, 2017. "A Quarter Century Effort Yet to Come of Age: A Survey of Electricity Sector Reform in Developing Countries," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Adwoa Asantewaa & Tooraj Jamasb & Manuel Llorca, 2022. "Electricity Sector Reform Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Parametric Distance Function Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-29, March.
    2. Michael Pollitt, 2021. "Measuring the Impact of Electricity Market Reform in a Chinese Context," Working Papers EPRG2111, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    3. Asantewaa, Adwoa & Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel, 2022. "Reforming Small Electricity Systems: Market Design and Competition," Working Papers 12-2022, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    4. Zhang, Tao & Li, Hong-Zhou & Xie, Bai-Chen, 2022. "Have renewables and market-oriented reforms constrained the technical efficiency improvement of China's electric grid utilities?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    5. Jamasb, Tooraj & Thakur, Tripta & Bag, Baidyanath, 2018. "Smart electricity distribution networks, business models, and application for developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 22-29.
    6. Dertinger, Andrea & Hirth, Lion, 2020. "Reforming the electric power industry in developing economies evidence on efficiency and electricity access outcomes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. Lisa Bagnoli & Salvador Bertomeu-Sanchez & Antonio Estache & Maria Vagliasindi, 2023. "Does the ownership of utilities matter for social outcomes? A survey of the evidence for developing countries," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 24-43, January.
    8. Nepal, Rabindra & Phoumin, Han & Musibau, Hammed & Jamasb, Tooraj, 2022. "The socio-economic impacts of energy policy reform through the lens of the power sector – Does cross-sectional dependence matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    9. Lisa Bagnoli & Salvador Bertomeu & Antonio Estache & Maria Vagliasindi, 2020. "Are the Poor Better Off with Public or Private Utilities ?A Survey of the Academic Evidence on Developing Economies," Working Papers ECARES 2020-24, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    10. Klein, Michael, 1996. "Competition in network industries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1591, The World Bank.
    11. Rodrigo M. S. Moita & Claudio Paiva, 2013. "Political Price Cycles in Regulated Industries: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 94-121, February.
    12. MARINI, Marco, 1996. "Property Rights and Market : Employee Privatization as a Cooperative Bargaining Process," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 1996023, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    13. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "Firm Growth, Institutions and Structural Transformation," Ratio Working Papers 150, The Ratio Institute.
    14. Simon P. Anderson & Régis Renault, 2011. "Price Discrimination," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 22, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Yuzhou Jiang & Ramteen Sioshansi, 2023. "What Duality Theory Tells Us About Giving Market Operators the Authority to Dispatch Energy Storage," The Energy Journal, , vol. 44(3), pages 89-110, May.
    16. Dionne, G. & Doherty, N., 1991. "Adverse Selection In Insurance Markets: A Selective Survey," Cahiers de recherche 9105, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
    17. David Martimort & Flavio Menezes & Myrna Wooders & ELISABETTA IOSSA & DAVID MARTIMORT, 2015. "The Simple Microeconomics of Public-Private Partnerships," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(1), pages 4-48, February.
    18. Bassanini, Anna & Pouyet, Jerome, 2005. "Strategic choice of financing systems in regulated and interconnected industries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2-3), pages 233-259, February.
    19. Fu, Tong & Jian, Ze, 2020. "A developmental state: How to allocate electricity efficiently in a developing country," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    20. Josse Delfgaauw & Robert Dur, 2008. "Incentives and Workers' Motivation in the Public Sector," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(525), pages 171-191, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:sae:enejou:v:41:y:2020:i:3:p:119-142. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.