TSOs are natural monopolies, so their role in the economy cannot be assessed by usual market means that is to say competition with other companies. Thus, how can the TSO management, or the regulator measure the efficiency of a TSO?One of the tools of regulators and of TSOs is "benchmarking", to compare TSO activities and performances. In fact, there are different levels of benchmark, from a general overview of the characteristics of the TSOs to econometric or numeric model of TSOs activities. Based upon RTE experience on benchmarking, this article describes the risks and the opportunities for TSOs to take part in a benchmark, showing that first of all, any conclusion must made very cautiously with a clear identification of the different external factors, that TSOs have to cope with.For all types of benchmarks, a paradox must be mentioned, being often a cause of difficulty to use with benefits benchmarking results. To be significant, benchmarking studies may require a large number of participants, but an increase in the number of participants can highly complicates debates, and makes hazardous a real common understanding of the data to be used and of the mathematical model.How to organize a benchmark, what to do with the result are some other points that will be discussed in this article. Also performed by TSOs, benchmarks aim, of course, at improving internal procedures of each TSO and are not only financial but should also be highly technical.
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