Market power and integrated regional markets of electricity: a simulation of the MIBEL

Abstract

We consider a partial equilibrium model where we study the integration of two oligopolistic markets that are not symmetric (in number of firms, in demand or market dimension). We present a simulation for the integration of the Iberian wholesale electricity market (MIBEL) and show how the exercise of market power will evolve with regional full integration. The simulation results show that, as expected, market power is lower after full integration. However, even after full integration, market power is still a feature of the market. There fore, the full benefits of liberalisation and integration are not seized by the consumers since wholesale prices persist to be higher than marginal costs.