The Economics of the Smart Grid

Smart Grid (SG) technologies may bring substantial advantages to society, but the required investments are also sizable. This paper establishes a framework for examining the issues related to the SG, and highlights some of the difficulties in establishing a mechanism for paying SG costs. In particular, we show that generators will lose profits as a direct effect of demand response initiatives, and most of the benefits of SG cannot be easily converted into payments. JEL Code: D61,H42, D62,L51