Posted Pricing as a Plus Factor

This paper identifies conditions under which an industry-wide practice of posted (or list) pricing is a plus factor sufficient to conclude that firms violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act. For certain classes of markets, it is shown that, under competition, all firms setting a list price with a policy of no discounting is contrary to equilibrium. Thus, if all firms choose posted pricing, it is to facilitate collusion by making it easier for them to coordinate their prices. It is then argued that the adoption of posted pricing communicates the necessary intent and reliance to conclude concerted action.

The Role of the ISO in U.S. Electricity Markets: A Review of Restructuring in California and PJM

Despite their design differences, both the California and the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland markets provide explicit roles for competition in the scheduling functions while allowing the ISO to manage the spot market. Experience has shown that both can work.Auctions; Electicity Restructuring

Electricity Market Designs for Demand Response from Residential Customers

The main purpose of this dissertation is to design an appropriate tariff program for residential customers that encourages customers to participate in the system while satisfying market operators and utilities goals. This research investigates three aspects critical for successful programs: tariff designs for DR, impact of renewable on such tariffs, and load elasticity estimates. First, both categories of DR are modeled based on the demand-price elasticity concept and used to design an optimum scheme for achieving the maximum benefit of DR. The objective is to not only reduce costs and improve reliability but also to increase customer acceptance of a DR program by limiting price volatility. A time of use (TOU) program is considered for a PB scheme designed using a monthly peak and off peak tariff. For the IBDR, a novel optimization is proposed that in addition to calculation of an adequate and a reasonable amount of load change for the incentive also finds the best times to request DR. Second, the effect of both DR programs under a high penetration of renewable resources is investigated. LMP variation after renewable expansion is more highly correlated with renewable’s intermittent output than the load profile. As a result, a TOU program is difficult to successfully implement; however, analysis shows IBDR can diminish most of the volatile price changes in WECC. To model risk associated with renewable uncertainty, a robust optimization is designed considering market price and elasticity uncertainty. Third, a comprehensive study to estimate residential load elasticity in an IBDR program. A key component in all demand response programs design is elasticity, which implies customer reaction to LSEs offers. Due to limited information, PB elasticity is used in IBDR as well. Customer elasticity is calculated using data from two nationwide surveys and integrated with a detailed residential load model. In addition, IB elasticity is reported at the individual appliance level, which is more effective than one for the aggregate load of the feeder. Considering the importance of HVAC in the aggregate load signal, its elasticity is studied in greater detail and estimated for different customer groupings

Agile Market Engineering: Bridging the gap between business concepts and running markets

The agile market engineering process model (AMEP) is built on the insight, that market design and development is a wicked problem. Electronic markets are too complex to be completely designed upfront. Instead, AMEP tries to bridge the gap between theoretic market design and practical electronic market platform development using an agile, iterative approach that relies on early customer feedback and continuous improvement. The AMEP model is complemented by several supporting software artifacts

Emerging business models in local energy markets: A systematic review of peer-to-peer, community self-consumption, and transactive energy models

The emergence of peer-to-peer, collective or community self-consumption, and transactive energy concepts gives rise to new configurations of business models for local energy trading among a variety of actors. Much attention has been paid in the academic literature to the transition of the underlying energy system with its macroeconomic market framework. However, fewer contributions focus on the microeconomic aspects of the broad set of involved actors. Even though specific case studies highlight single business models, a comprehensive analysis of emerging business models for the entire set of actors is missing. Following this research gap, this paper conducts a systematic literature review of 135 peer-reviewed journal articles to examine business models of actors operating in local energy markets. From 221 businesses in the reviewed literature, nine macro-actor categories are identified. For each type of market actor, a business model archetype is determined and characterised using the business model canvas. The key elements of each business model archetype are discussed, and areas are highlighted where further research is needed. Finally, this paper outlines the differences of business models for their presence in the three local energy market models. Focusing on the identified customers and partner relationships, this study highlights the key actors per market model and the character of the interactions between market participants