IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdh/ebrief/129.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Newfoundland's Electricity Options: Making the Right Choice Requires and Efficient Pricing Regime

Author

Listed:
  • James P. Feehan

    (Memorial University)

Abstract

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is assessing whether to authorize the multi-billion dollar Muskrat Falls hydroelectricity project on the lower Churchill River in Labrador. Proponents say it is needed to handle expected increases in electricity consumption. A better first step, however, would be to reform provincial regulations that set artificially low prices for electricity and support excessive power consumption, which is a problem in Newfoundland as it is in other provinces. Changing regulatory regimes so that the price of electricity reflects underlying costs would make economic sense and promote energy conservation. For Newfoundland, such a change could make the expensive Muskrat Falls project unnecessary.

Suggested Citation

  • James P. Feehan, 2012. "Newfoundland's Electricity Options: Making the Right Choice Requires and Efficient Pricing Regime," e-briefs 129, C.D. Howe Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdh:ebrief:129
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cdhowe.org/public-policy-research/newfoundland%E2%80%99s-electricity-options-making-right-choice-requires-efficient-pricing-regime
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernard, Jean-Thomas & Chatel, Josee, 1985. "The application of marginal cost pricing principles to a hydro-electric system : The case of hydro-Quebec," Resources and Energy, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 353-375, December.
    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. Ake Blomqvist & Colin Busby, 2012. "Better Value for Money in Healthcare: European Lessons for Canada," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 339, January.
    2. James MacGee, 2012. "The Rise in Consumer Credit and Bankruptcy: Cause for Concern?," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 346, April.
    3. Alexandre Laurin & William B.P. Robson, 2012. "Achieving Balance, Spurring Growth: A Shadow Federal Budget for 2012," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 344, March.
    4. David R. Percy, 2012. "Resolving Water-use Conflicts: Insights from the Prairie Experience for the MacKenzie River Basin," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 341, February.
    5. Feehan, James P., 2018. "The long-run price elasticity of residential demand for electricity: Results from a natural experiment," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 12-17.
    6. Adam Aptowitzer & Benjamin Dachis, 2012. "At the Crossroads: New Ideas for Charity Finance in Canada," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 343, March.
    7. Christopher Ragan, 2012. "Financial Stability: The Next Frontier for Canadian Monetary Policy," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 338, January.
    8. Joseph Doucet, 2012. "Unclogging the Pipes: Pipeline Reviews and Energy Policy," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 342, February.

    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. C. Robert Clark & Andrew Leach, 2007. "The Potential for Electricity Market Restructuring in Quebec," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 33(1), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Bernard, Jean-Thomas & Guertin, Chantal, 2000. "Nodal Pricing and Transmissions Losses. An Application to a Hydroelectric Power System," Cahiers de recherche 0007, GREEN.
    3. Billette de Villemeur, Etienne & Pineau, Pierre-Olivier, 2012. "Regulation and electricity market integration: When trade introduces inefficiencies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 529-535.
    4. Bernard, Jean-Thomas, 1999. "Le marché québécois de l’électricité : rétrospective et voies de l’avenir," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 75(4), pages 673-694, décembre.
    5. Chaton, Corrine & Doucet, Joseph A., 1999. "Uncertainty and Investment in Electricity Generation: the Case of Hydro-Québec," Cahiers de recherche 9914, Université Laval - Département d'économique.
    6. Arsenault, E. & Bernard, J. -T. & Genest-Laplante, E., 1996. "Hydro-Quebec energy savings programs: 'Watt' are they worth?," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 65-81, March.
    7. Bernard, J.T. & Nouhi, M. & Roland, M., 1999. "Impact of Regulatory Agencies on the Efficiency of Publicly-Owned Utilities," Papers 99-09, Laval - Recherche en Energie.
    8. Jean-Thomas Bernard, 2014. "La tarification de l'électricité: un sujet négligé lors des débats sur la nationalisation en 1962," Cahiers de recherche CREATE 2014-3, CREATE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic Growth and Innovation; Governance and Public Institutions; Water Series; Province of Newfoundland; electricity; hydro; pricing; Newfoundland and Labrador Hydor (NLH); Nalcor Energy; Muskrat Falls Plan (MFP); Isolated Island Option (IIO);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q2 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation
    • L9 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities

    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:cdh:ebrief:129. 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: Kristine Gray (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cdhowca.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.