Vertical Market Power in Interconnected Natural Gas and Electricity Markets
Vertical Market Power in Interconnected Natural Gas and Electricity Markets
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互联天然气和电力市场中的垂直市场力量
DOI：
10.2139/ssrn.3072237
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发表时间：
2017
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Matthew Zaragoza
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Levi Marks;C. Mason;Kristina Mohlin;Matthew Zaragoza
新英格兰处于能源转型的前沿，天然气在美国发电组合中发挥着越来越重要的作用。近年来，该区域的天然气和电力批发市场经历了严重的同时价格飙升。虽然经常归因于服务于该地区的管道容量有限，但我们证明，一些天然气分销公司在实际上没有欠天然气的情况下安排交付，加剧了这种价格飙升。这种行为阻碍了其他公司利用管道容量，人为地限制了该地区的天然气供应，推高了天然气和电力价格。被观察到保留管道容量的公司还拥有新英格兰的非天然气发电资产，这些资产受益于其燃气竞争对手支付更高的燃料投入成本。我们估计，在我们研究的三年期间，容量扣留使平均天然气和电力价格分别增加了38%和20%。因此，客户多支付了36亿美元的电费。虽然所研究的行为可能是在公司的合同权利，在天然气和电力市场的重大影响表明，需要考虑改善市场设计和监管，因为这两个能源市场变得越来越相互关联。
New England is at the leading edge of an energy transition in which natural gas is playing an increasingly important role in the US electricity generation mix. In recent years, the region’s wholesale natural gas and electricity markets have experienced severe, simultaneous price spikes. While frequently attributed to limited pipeline capacity serving the region, we demonstrate that such price spikes have been exacerbated by some gas distribution firms scheduling deliveries without actually owing gas. This behavior blocks other firms from utilizing pipeline capacity, which artificially limits gas supply to the region and drives up gas and electricity prices. The firms observed to withhold pipeline capacity also own non-gas electricity generation assets in New England that benefit from their gas-fired competitors paying higher fuel input costs. We estimate that capacity withholding increased average gas and electricity prices by 38% and 20%, respectively, over the three-year period we study. As a result, customers paid $3.6 billion more for electricity. While the studied behavior may have been within the firms’ contractual rights, the significant impacts in both the gas and electricity markets show the need to consider improvements to market design and regulation as these two energy markets become increasingly interlinked.