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...

We compare the cost of generating electricity with coal and wind in Chile. On average, we estimate that the levelized cost of coal, including externalities, is $84/MWh. It is efficient to abate air pollutants (SOx, NOx and PM2.5) but not CO2. With abatement the cost wrought by environmental...

Studies that estimate deficit probabilities in hydrothermal systems have generally ignored the response of demand to changing prices, in the belief that such response is largely irrelevant. We show that ignoring the response of demand to prices can lead to substantial over or under estimation of...