The role of regional power pools in support of a competitive electric power market
- Southern California Edison, Rosemead, CA (United States)
The regulated, vertically integrated electric utility industry is transitioning to a competitive market structure. Change is driven by new technologies, competition, markets and customers. Electric industry restructuring must focus on bringing the benefits of competition to all consumers; a market system producing lower costs through competitive efficiencies, not zero-sum games of cost shifting and cost avoidance; and a transparent, open market that provides opportunity for all to compete to serve all customers. Customers want choice, flexibility and reliability. To this end, Edison has developed a pool-based proposal. All electric systems that have transitioned from a regulated to a competitive market model, such as UK, Norway, New Zealand and Alberta have relied on a pool-based structure. Edison`s proposal has become known as POOLCO, and it separates financial transactions from physical operation of the system, giving customers the choice of service through bilateral commercial contracts, yet assuring coordinated, reliable system operation. Independent and unaffiliated with any utility, it would make a real-time, voluntary spot power market; dispatch supply; provide open, comparable transmission access and perform the balancing or settlement function, based on visible, competitive future requires resolution of some important policy issues--recovery of costs prudently incurred under the current regulatory structure; jurisdictional clarity between federal and state regulatory authority; and size, scope and recovery of costs associated with energy policy programs.
- OSTI ID:
- 150466
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9506137--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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