Utility and Welfare Optimization

Chris Harris is Honorary Fellow in Energy Policy at Exeter University, UK, following a period as Visiting Professor in Sustainable Power Distribution at Bath University, UK. He is Head of Regulation at RWE npower, with previous roles including heads of internal markets, asset optimization and asset management. He has PhDs in fracture mechanics and regulatory economics.

• 1. Introduction 2. The Political Economic Framework 3. Economic and Market Framework 4. Core Welfare Modelling Factors 5. Current Topics in Electricity 6. Conclusion Technical Appendices

"Harris provides a very perspicacious and readable overview of the theory and, importantly, the practice of welfare maximization in electricity. Unusually, he has written a book that bridges the usual divide between socio-political concerns and quantitative economic dimensions, and is all the stronger for it." - Catherine Mitchell, Professor of Energy Policy, Exeter University, UK