This paper compares the cost of electricity generation with a coal fired plant and a wind mill in Chile’s Central Interconnected System. To the standard costs of coal generation (capital investment and fuel) we add local and global environmental externalities. The environmental cost of...

While some countries have unbundled distribution and retailing, skeptics argue that the physical attributes of electricity make retailers redundant. Instead, it is claimed that passive pass through of wholesale prices plus regulated charges for transmission and distribution suffice for customers...

Energy policy makers usually ignore the response of the demand for electricity to changing prices because they believe that the price elasticity is nil. We show that a “small” price elasticity of demand generates “large” changes in energy shortage probabilities and generation costs when...

In the early 1980s Chile reformed its electricity sector, introducing a regulatory framework that became influential worldwide. But in 1998 and 1999 La Ni?a brought one of the worst droughts on record, causing a price system collapse, random power outages, and three-hour rotating electricity...

Este trabajo estudia formalmente si la ley eléctrica contenía precios suficientes para administrar sin cortes y eficientemente caídas drásticas de la cantidad ofrecida de energía y daba los incentivos correctos para invertir en capacidad de reserva. También analizamos en detalle las...

Este trabajo analiza la crisis eléctrica de 1998-1999. Su principal conclusión es que el diagnóstico habitual que sostiene que ocurrió porque las empresas no invirtieron y el regulador no tenía atribuciones, es equivocado. A pesar de la peor sequía del siglo y de la falla de la central...