Understanding Today's Electricity Business

Transcription

1 Brochure More information from Understanding Today's Electricity Business Description: This 216-page detailed overview of the North American electric industry presents a clear-cut look at how the industry operates. Topics covered include the major industry players, regulation, the various deregulated market structures, the physical electric system and how it's operated, market dynamics, how industry players make money and manage risk, and much more. Contents: SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Today's Electricity Marketplace 1 Electricity in Modern Society 2 A Brief History of Electricity 5 SECTION TWO: WHAT IS ELECTRICITY? 9 How Electricity is Created 11 How Electricity is Used to Perform Useful Tasks 12 The Key Components of the Electric Delivery System 15 The Key Physical Properties of an Electric Delivery System 16 Electricity Cannot be Stored 16 The Path of Electrical Flow is Difficult to Control 16 Disturbances Travel Very Quickly and are Hard to Contain.17 Outages and Significant Voltage or Frequency Fluctuations are Not Acceptable.17 The Four Key Physical Sectors of the Electricity Business 18 SECTION THREE: ELECTRIC CONSUMERS 21 Residential Customers 22 Commercial Customers 25 Industrial Customers 28 Aggregate Demand Curves 32 SECTION FOUR: GENERATION 35 Types of Generation 36 Coal 36 Nuclear 37 Natural Gas 38 Hydro 39 Fuel Oil 40 Renewables 41 Distributed Generation 42 Environmental Considerations 43 Electric Generation, Global Warming and the Kyoto Protocol 44 Demand Response as an Alternative to Generation 46 Use of Generation to Satisfy the Load Curve 47 Baseload 48 Intermediate 48 Peaking 48 Ownership of Generation 49 Developing a Generation Portfolio 50 The Future of Generation 51 SECTION FIVE: TRANSMISSION 55 Physical Characteristics of Transmission 56 Operation and Planning of the Transmission System 57 Transmission System Costs 58 Ownership of Transmission 58 Issues with TransmIssion Construction 59 The Current Status of the U.S. Transmission System 59

2 SECTION SIX: DISTRIBUTION 63 Physical Characteristics of Distribution 63 Radial Feed 67 Loop Feed 67 Network System 67 Operating and Planning of the Distribution System 68 Distribution System Costs 69 Ownership and the Current Status of Distribution Systems 69 SECTION SEVEN: ELECTRIC SYSTEM OPERATIONS 71 Operational Characteristics of Power Systems 71 What System Operations Does 72 Who Handles System Operations 72 Forecasting and Scheduling 75 Demand Forecasting 76 Scheduling Generation, Transmission and Reserves 76 Ancillary Services 76 Automatic Generation Control (AGC) 77 Spinning Reserves 77 Non-spinning Reserves 78 Supplemental Reserves 78 Voltage Support 78 Black Start 78 How Supply and Demand are Kept in Balance in Real Time.78 The Changing Role of System Operations 80 SECTION EIGHT: MARKET PARTICIPANTS IN THE DELIVERY CHAIN 83 Participants in the Vertically-Integrated Market Model 83 Investor-Owned Utilities 83 Municipal Utilities and Public Utility Districts 84 Rural Electric Co-ops 84 Federal Power Agencies 85 Public Power Agencies 86 Power Pools 86 Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) 86 Independent Power Producers and Electric Marketers.86 Participants in Restructured or Competitive Electric Markets.87 Merchant Generators 87 Transmission Companies 87 Independent System Operators (ISOs)/Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs).88 Electric Marketers 88 Financial Services Companies 89 Transmission Owners 89 Utility Distribution Companies 90 Load Serving Entities 90 Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) 90 SECTION NINE: ELECTRIC MARKET STRUCTURES 93 What is an Electric Market Structure? 93 Vertically-Integrated Monopoly Utility Model 95 The Current Status of Vertically-Integrated Monopoly Utility.96 Single Buyer with Competitive Generation Model 97 The Current Status of Single Buyer 98 Wholesale/Industrial Competition Model 98 The Current Status of Wholesale/Industrial Competition 100 Complete Retail Competition Model 100 The Current Status of Complete Retail Competition 101 Trading Arrangements 102 Wheeling 103 Decentralized 104 Integrated 105 The Current Status of Market Structures and Trading Arrangements.107

3 SECTION TEN: REGULATION IN THE ELECTRIC INDUSTRY 109 Why Regulate the Electric Industry? 109 The Goals of Regulators 110 The Historical Basis for Regulation 110 State Regulation 110 Federal Regulation 111 Who Regulates What? 113 The Regulatory Process 114 The Initial Filing 114 Preliminary Procedures 115 Hearings 115 The Draft Decision 116 The Final Decision 116 Review of Decisions 116 Tariffs 116 Setting Rates through a Traditional Ratecase 117 Determining the Authorized Rate of Return 118 Forecasting Usage 118 Determining a Revenue Requirement 118 Allocating Revenue to Customer Classes 119 Determining Rate Design 119 Allocating Revenue to Charge Types 120 Determining the Rate 120 Incentive Regulation 120 Performance-based 121 Benchmarking 121 Rate Caps 121 Service Standards 121 Market-based Rates 122 State and Federal Rate Methodologies 122 The Future of Regulation 122 SECTION ELEVEN: THE CONCEPTS OF MARKET RESTRUCTURING 125 Why Restructuring? 126 The Market Maturation Cycle 127 Regulation 128 Deregulation 129 Commoditization 130 Value-Added Services 130 The Necessary Components for a Competitive Marketplace.131 Supply Side Competition 131 Fair Access to Transmission 132 Unbiased System Operations 132 Demand Side Competition 133 Distribution without Impediments to Competition 134 Opportunities for Hedging Risks 134 Creating a Competitive Market 134 Transitioning Generation 135 Creating a Robust Transmission Market 136 Creating an ISO 136 Transitioning to Customer Choice 137 Continued Regulation of Transmission and Distribution.137 Ensuring Reliability 137 Settlements 138 SECTION TWELVE: THE HISTORY OF ELECTRIC MARKET RESTRUCTURING 141 Federal Restructuring 142 The First Steps Towards Independent Generation PURPA of Fostering Wholesale Generation Competition the Energy Policy Act of Furthering Open Access Transmission FERC Order Encouraging Formation of Regional Transmission Operators FERC Order The Current Stalemate 147

4 State Restructuring 148 Separating the Vertical Utility Functions 150 Allowing Retail Access 150 Continued Regulation of the Monopoly Function 150 The California Experience 151 Restructuring in Other Countries 154 SECTION THIRTEEN: MARKET DYNAMICS 157 Supply and Demand 158 Short-term Supply and Demand 159 Long-term Supply and Demand 160 The Current Supply/Demand Situation in the U.S 160 Pricing 161 Indexes and Trading Hubs 162 Price Volatility 163 The Wholesale Market 164 Energy and Generation Capacity 166 Forward Markets 166 Spot Markets 167 Transmission Rights 167 Financial Services 168 The Retail Market 168 Utility Retail Services 169 Competitive Retail Services 170 ESCO and other Energy Services 171 SECTION FOURTEEN: MAKING MONEY AND MANAGING RISK 173 How Market Participants Create Profits 174 How a Utility Makes Money Traditional Method 174 How a Utility Makes Money Incentive Regulation.175 How Unregulated Market Participants Make Money.176 Risk Management 176 Choices for Managing Risk 178 Physical Risk Management 178 Financial Risk Management 178 Speculation versus Hedging 180 Hedging Techniques 180 Value at Risk 182 SECTION FIFTEEN: THE FUTURE OF THE ELECTRICITY BUSINESS 185 A Review of Market Changes 185 The Future of the Generation Sector 186 The Future of Transmission 187 The Future of Distribution 187 The Future of System Operations 188 The Future of Retail Marketing 188 A Sustainable Energy Future? 189 APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY 193 APPENDIX B: UNITS AND CONVERSIONS 205 APPENDIX C: ACRONYMS 207 APPENDIX D: INDEX 213 Ordering: Order Online - Order by Fax - using the form below Order by Post - print the order form below and send to Research and Markets, Guinness Centre,

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