Electric retail market options: The customer perspective

Technical Report · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/92067· OSTI ID:92067

Hadley, S W; Hillsman, E L

This report describes various options that are now available for retail electric customers, or that may become available during the next few years as the electric utility industry restructures. These options include different ways of meeting demand for energy services, different providers of service or points of contact with providers, and different pricing structures for purchased services. Purpose of this document is to examine these options from the customer`s perspective: how might being a retail electric customer in 5--10 years differ from now? Seizing opportunities to reduce cost of electric service is likely to entail working with different service providers; thus, transaction costs are involved. Some of the options considered are speculative. Some transitional options include relocation, customer-built/operated transmission lines, municipalization, self-generation, and long-term contracts with suppliers. All these may change or diminish in a restructured industry. Brokers seem likely to become more common unless restructuring takes the form of mandatory poolcos (wholesale). Some options appear robust, ie, they are likely to become more common regardless of how restructuring is accomplished: increased competition among energy carriers (gas vs electric), real-time pricing, etc. This report identified some of the qualitative differences among the various options. For customers using large amounts of electricity, different alternatives are likely to affect greatly service price, transaction costs, tailoring service to customer preferences, and risks for customer. For retail customers using small amounts of electricity, there may be little difference among the options except service price.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 92067
• Report Number(s): ORNL/CON--418; ON: DE95015997
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
COGENERATION
COST
ELECTRIC POWER
ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
FORECASTING
LOAD MANAGEMENT
MARKET
ON-SITE POWER GENERATION
POWER GENERATION
PRICES
PUBLIC UTILITIES
RATE STRUCTURE
REGULATIONS
TIME-OF-USE PRICING