Making Competition Work in Electricity [Hardcover]

Sally Hunt (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wiley Finance | Publication Date: March 22, 2002

An expert's perspective on how competition can make this industry work. There has never been a coherent plan to restructure the electricity industry in the US???until now. Power expert Sally Hunt gets down to the critical lessons learned from the California power crisis and other deregulated markets, in which competition has been introduced properly and successfully.

Hunt presents sensible solutions to power market reform that have been cultivated over her twenty years of professional work in the industry. Sally Hunt (New York, NY) spent twenty years at National Economic Research Associates, where she was head of NERA's U.S. energy practice and a member of the board. Coauthor of Competition and Choice in Electricity with Graham Shuttleworth (0471957828), she has served as Corporate Economist at Con Edison, Deputy Director of the New York City Energy Office, and Assistant Administrator of the New York City Environmental Protection Administration. Over the years, financial professionals around the world have looked to the Wiley Finance series and its wide array of bestselling books for the knowledge, insights, and techniques that are essential to success in financial markets. As the pace of change in financial markets and instruments quickens, Wiley Finance continues to respond. With critically acclaimed books by leading thinkers on value investing, risk management,asset allocation, and many other critical subjects, the Wiley Finance series provides the financial community with information they want. Written to provide professionals and individuals with the most current thinking from the best minds in the industry, it is no wonder that the Wiley Finance series is the first and last stop for financial professionals looking to increase their financial expertise.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…for PowerUK readers, the book should be indispensable…provides a useful introduction to the problems that have dogged the US so enabling UK readers to put parochial energy matters in a global context…" (PowerUK, October 2002)

“…IT will undoubtedly become recommended, if not required, reading for students, researchers, regulators, and the industry alike…”(The Journal of Energy Literature, Vol.V111, No.2, 2002

From the Inside Flap

The electricity industry has become one of the most complex industries around, for reasons ranging from technology to politics. The ultimate goal is to create an efficient and reliable market both for consumers and for the industry. The question is: how to go about doing this? In Making Competition Work in Electricity, power expert Sally Hunt recommends solutions to this unique problem.

Making Competition Work in Electricity is divided into two comprehensive parts. With a focus on the "standard prescription" that has been established over the past decade–as competition has been introduced into many foreign countries and areas of the United States–Part One of this valuable resource sets out and explains what needs to be accomplished for competition to work in any country. You’ll come to understand:

• The functions and traditional organization of the electricity industry
• The key technical factors that make it different from other industries
• The essential concepts of the electricity market and marketplaces
• What is needed for a competitive electricity market to thrive and mature
• Various types of trading arrangements–wheeling, integrated, decentralized
• The need for demand response in both wholesale and retail markets
• The need for restructuring of companies to enhance competition
• Why retail access should be the last step, not the first, to stimulate competition

Part Two of Making Competition Work in Electricity focuses on the United States and what needs to be done to apply the "standard prescription" to the complicated setup that currently exists. A full description of the structural and legislative changes since 1992, the state initiatives on retail access, and the new players will give you the most comprehensive overview to date of the electricity industry within the United States, why it is at an impasse, and what has to be done to resolve the problem.

Filled with expert advice and practical solutions, Making Competition Work in Electricity lays out a feasible plan for a restructured electricity industry and explores how to go about achieving this goal. Even with a specific focus on the electricity industry of the United States, this unique guide provides sensible solutions to a dilemma faced throughout the world.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (March 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471220981
• ISBN-13: 978-0471220985
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.5 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #587,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for anyone wanting to learn about the industry, October 25, 2002

By 

Gaurab Hazarika (OH, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Competition Work in Electricity (Hardcover)

This book was suggested by the CEO of my company for every new MBA recruits. I found this book really helpful in learning a lot about the industry.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part explains what are the components, who are the players, what an ideal industry would look like, etc of an electric industry. The second part is dedicated to the US electric industry.

The author does a wonderful job of explaining the basic fundamentals of the industry. At times some concepts get hard to comprehend because the concepts are unusually complicated. For someone new to this industry, it might require more than one reading and I can bet that it is worth their time.

This is a great book for anyone interested in learning about the industry.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OK for the jargon averse person., October 18, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Making Competition Work in Electricity (Hardcover)

In this book all technical terms are defined and the prose is more or less similar to that of the Wall Street Jounal. The book increased my understanding from incredulity that deregulation of energy can be done to a comfortable sense of the system operating components and a few of the possible foul-ups. One book didn't make me an expert but I don' blame the author. Also it was a pleasant if not simple read.
A technical expert is needed to comment on the balance and depth of the presentation; sounded OK to me though.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars thanks to the outhor, March 1, 2003

By 

KADIR ERTURK (ISTANBUL Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Competition Work in Electricity (Hardcover)

The outhor did very good job explaning and making some complex detailles easy to be understood in a basic way.It is helpfull for any one to know the competititon structure in electrircity markets either trade participant in the energy sector or anybody in education period.