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Article
Some Simple Analytics of Peak-Load Pricing
Rand Journal of Economics (1991)
  • Ted Bergstrom, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Jeffrey K. Mackie-Mason
Abstract

Consider a public utility that offers its service at two different times. We study the effects of a change from uniform pricing throughout the day to peak-load pricing. We show that for a utility constrained to operate with a fixed rate of return on capital, the introduction of peak-load pricing can plausibly reduce the price of the service it both in peak and off-peak times. We also find that peak-load pricing can lead to either greater or smaller capacity than uniform pricing. We find a simple criterion for determining whether a particular individual gains or loses from peak-load pricing.

Keywords
  • peak-load pricing,
  • time of day pricing
Disciplines
Publication Date
Summer 1991
Citation Information
Ted Bergstrom and Jeffrey K. Mackie-Mason. "Some Simple Analytics of Peak-Load Pricing" Rand Journal of Economics Vol. 22 Iss. 2 (1991)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ted_bergstrom/27/