ABSTRACT
How does the power industry work under de-regulation? What do power producers actually do? Who sees that the vast electric grid operates smoothly and reliably? Where do electric customers go to buy electricity, and how does it get from that place and producer to their location? Under the best of circumstances, the answers to these questions are confusing, because the operation of a de-regulated electric industry is more complex than that of a vertically integrated electric utility. Adding to the confusion is the fact that there are several different ways that a government can decide to order de-regulated operations to work. All are intricate, but each to a different degree and in a different way. This chapter and the next will cover the main concepts of these various structures at the generation (this chapter) and transmission system (Chapter 12) levels, and attempt to show how each works, and, more important, indicate the common threads that run through all the approaches.
