Electricity pricing as a demand-side management strategy: Western lessons for developing countries

摘要

Electric utilities in the Western world have increasingly realized that load commitments can be met not only by constructing new generating plants but also by influencing electricity demand. This demand-side management (DSM) process requires that electric utilities promote measures on the customer's side of the meter to directly or indirectly influence electricity consumption to meet desired load objectives. An important demand-side option to achieve these load objectives is innovative electricity pricing, both by itself and as a financial incentive for other demand-site measures. This study explores electricity pricing as a DSM strategy, addressing four questions in the process: What is the Western experience with DSM in general and electricity pricing in particular. Do innovative pricing strategies alter the amount and pattern of electricity consumption. Do the benefits of these pricing strategies outweigh the costs of implementation. What are future directions in electricity pricing. Although DSM can be used to promote increases in electricity consumption for electric utilities with excess capacity as well as to slow demand growth for capacity-short utilities, emphasis here is placed on the latter. The discussion should be especially useful for electric utilities in developing countries that are exploring alternatives to capacity expansion to meet current and future electric power demand.