Working Paper: NBER ID: w17383
Authors: Kabir Malik; Maureen Cropper; Alexander Limonov; Anoop Singh
Abstract: We examine the impact of electricity sector restructuring on the operating efficiency of coal-fired power plants in India. Between 1995 and 2009, 85 percent of coal-based generation capacity owned by state governments was unbundled from vertically integrated State Electricity Boards into state generating companies. We find that generating units in states that unbundled before the Electricity Act of 2003 experienced reductions in forced outages of about 25% and improvements in availability of about 10%, with the largest results occurring 3-5 years after restructuring. We find no evidence of improvements in thermal efficiency at state-owned power plants due to reform.
Keywords: electricity sector restructuring; operating efficiency; thermal power plants; India
JEL Codes: L43; L94; O13; O25; Q4
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| unbundling (D43) | reduction in forced outages (L94) |
| unbundling (D43) | improvement in availability (L15) |
| unbundling before 2003 (L49) | reduction in forced outages (L94) |
| unbundling before 2003 (L49) | increase in availability (O39) |
| unbundling (D43) | improvements in operating reliability (L15) |
| unbundling after 2005 (L49) | worsening in thermal efficiency (L94) |
| unbundling (D43) | limited gains in operational efficiency (D61) |
| unbundling (D43) | no significant changes in capacity utilization (D24) |