Hancock's blog

The particular features of electricity markets in Australia and New Zealand

I've just finished a 6-part series as an introduction to the University of Canterbury's new short course on Navigating Regulatory Economics with a lecture that Greg Houston gave at the University last November to launch the course.

I mentioned that I had him on the podcast 14 years ago. I enjoyed it so much I thought we should run it again. Even though he lives in Sydney, he's a kiwi-and remains active in the industry here as well as in Australia and around the world, so he's well positioned to reflect on things here. Greg was in New Zealand in March 2012, speaking at Downstream. I took the opportunity to invite him onto the blog and explore some of the topical issues in the New Zealand industry in 2012 from a trans-tasman perspective. They haven't aged ...

For the next couple of months we're going to have a look at some of the issues around market manipulation and market power. We start by setting some context with another Southern theme - that our electricity markets are of the purest sort.

If you want to hear more from Greg, he's a featured expert in the Navigating Regulatory Economics short online course from the University of Canterbury. Next week Greg explains why we didn't we have capacity payments in New Zealand and Australia back then (things have changed ...)

I'm talking to Jim Bushnell, an Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis – who was in New Zealand in August as the S.T. Lee fellow at the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.

Last week's instalment was the last official episode in the series where Jim reflected on where the current stories about price manipulation in US power markets may end. While we were wrapping up, I asked Jim about conduct provisions – which Gasman asked about on my blog way back in August last year. This is what he said. Topically enough, it's very close to where the Wholesale Advisory Group got to in its review of Pivotal Pricing.

What JP Morgan did and what it says about US electric market design

I'm talking to Jim Bushnell, an Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis – who was in New Zealand in August as the S.T. Lee fellow at the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.

Before the Christmas break, Jim explained why the current cases of price manipulation in US power markets aren't Enron all over again. It's all about the complex market design in the US, which internalises a plethora of externalities - and what happens when traders play there. This week he reflects on where the story may end.

In August, Bushnell gave a lecture in Wellington asking If Electricity Liberalisation is So Great, why does everybody hate it?

Jim Bushnell on the current cases of price manipulation in US power markets

I'm talking to Jim Bushnell, an Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis – who was in New Zealand in August as the S.T. Lee fellow at the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation. He gave a lecture in Wellington asking If Electricity Liberalisation is So Great, why does everybody hate it?

Last week, Jim talked about how Enron made its money in California. This week, we go back to the current cases that the federal regulator in the US has brought against JP Morgan and others for price manipulation in US power markets and Jim explains why it isn't Enron all over again. It's pretty complicated but that's part of the problem.