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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Poolco: The new central planning

Conference ·
OSTI ID:93827
 [1]
  1. California State Univ., Fullerton, CA (United States)
The future of America`s electric utilities is surely a more competitive one. In the broadest sense, electricity competes both with other energy sources and with conservation. In today`s bulk power markets, utilities trade blocks of high-voltage capacity and energy among themselves under increasingly competitive conditions, and purchase energy from non-utility owners of generation. Utilities also trade transmission services ({open_quotes}wheeling{close_quotes}) among themselves and sometimes sell them to non-utility generators. They sometimes compete to induce industrial users to locate or expand in their territories (or in California, to induce them not to leave). Occasionally there is duplicative competition between distributors. Somewhat infrequently, franchises change over from service by a corporate utility to service by a municipally-owned system or cooperative. Finally, there is political competition, in which utilities, customers, and competitors vie for favorable treatment by elected officials and regulators.
OSTI ID:
93827
Report Number(s):
CONF-950398--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English