Transmission pricing and expansion methodology: lessons from Argentina

Abstract

This paper focuses on the pricing of electric transmission service in Argentina and on the mechanisms for expanding the transmission system as of late 1998. We also discuss the pricing of energy and generating capacity, since locational differences in their prices constitute charges for transmission service. We find that the methods in place for pricing transmission service are, in the main, consistent with the principles of efficient pricing but that the incentives and mechanisms established for expanding transmission are deficient in some respects. Most notable is the failure to provide for transmission rights, given the system's heavy reliance on user-driven expansion. We find that Argentina can improve upon its pioneering effort to implement user-driven expansion and indeed is exploring ways to do so. The most important tasks are to investigate (a) whether a system of financial transmission rights can be made to work as part of the process of user-driven expansion and (b) whether a backstop role for centrally planned expansion can be preserved without inhibiting or preempting the user-driven process.