A Comparison of Public and Private Electric Distribution Utilities in Pennsylvania

Bolen, Matthew

A Comparison of Public and Private Electric Distribution Utilities in Pennsylvania

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10456/41421

Author(s)

Bolen, Matthew

Date Issued

April 6, 2016

Abstract

Electric distribution utilities can be organized in multiple ways, the two most common are public local government ownership or private investor ownership. This provides a topic of debate in economics: which ownership structure is better? A public owner has an advantage at determining how to benefit the citizens over a third party regulator. A private utility is able to take advantage of economies of scale by growing to a large size. Public firms have denser populations that they service, making the utility need to lay fewer power lines. All of these contribute to which ownership structure is better. Pennsylvania has both of these ownership structures in existence, providing a state to analyze electric distribution utilities in.

Major

Economics

First Reader(s)

Nonnenmacher, Tomas W.