The Increasing Cost of Ignoring Coase: Inefficient Electricity Tariffs, Welfare Loss and Distributed Energy Resources
63 Pages Posted: 17 Dec 2018
Date Written: November 27, 2018
Abstract
I show that British electricity tariffs create substantial welfare loss, equivalent to between six and eighteen percent of domestic consumption value. Losses are greater than unpriced distributional and environmental counter effects. Expected technological change will increase this welfare loss. Deployment of distributed energy resources (e.g. solar) benefits adoptees at the expense of non-adoptees as tariffs are recalibrated to recover fixed costs. Reform on Coasian principles avoids these welfare losses and re-distributional effects. In providing these estimates, I combine household-level micro-data with information on utility cost and tariff structure to simulate the welfare effects of tariff reform and technological change.
Keywords: Electricity Tariffs, Distortion, Welfare Loss, Distributed Energy Resources, Distributional Impacts
JEL Classification: K32, L94, L98, Q42, Q48, Q51, Q53, Q54, Q55
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation