Social costing of electricity in Maryland: Effects on pollution, investment, and prices

Journal Article · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Energy Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol16-No1-1· OSTI ID:376897

Palmer, K; Krupnick, A ^[1]; Dowlatabadi, H; Siegel, S ^[2]

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1. Resources for the Future, Washington, DC (United States)
2. Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

Many state public utility commissions (PUCs) have started to require electric utilities to consider environmental and other externalities in their planning processes. To data social costing has been applied exclusively to the evaluation of new sources of electricity. More comprehensive approaches to social costing would include requiring the utility to dispatch both new and existing generating units according to social cost, or requiring electricity consumers to pay a price for electricity that reflects its full social cost. Using estimates of external costs taken from the literature, this study contrasts the implication of these three different approaches for utility descision making, electricity prices, demand for electricity and other fuels and the net emissions of selected pollutants for a Maryland utility. We find that applying social costing at the investment stage only may lead to reduced investment in new resources, increased use of existing generation resources and higher emissions of key pollutants. Applying social costing to dispatch generally leads to increased levels of emissions and only moderate price increases. Also, social costing of electricity generally has a small impact on consumer demand for natural gas. 24 refs., 5 figs., 7 tabs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 376897
• Journal Information: Energy Journal, Journal Name: Energy Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 16; ISSN ENJODN; ISSN 0195-6574
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
AIR POLLUTION
COST
DECISION MAKING
ELECTRIC POWER
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
MARYLAND
PLANNING
POLLUTANTS
PRICING REGULATIONS
RATE STRUCTURE
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS