Investigating Competition in Iran’s Electricity Industry

The transition from a structurally old-fashion and vertically integrated electric power industry to a new one in which production, distribution, and retail sale of electricity are treated separately, is usually accompanied by establishing an electricity market both at wholesale and retail sale levels. In pursuance of the success story in re-structuring the electric power industry worldwide, Iran also launched the electric power market in 1383 (AD 2004). One of the concerns of regulators in the electricity sector in every country is the extent and degree of competitiveness in the electric power market that safeguards the interest of electricity users. The present paper aims to evaluate the performance of the wholesale market for electricity within the framework of profit maximization modeling for power generating industries concerning deviation from perfect market conditions. The findings of this paper indicate that on average, power market performance in Iran deviates by 18 percent from the result expected in a competitive market.