The Changing Structure of the Electric Power Industry 2000: An ... - EIA

Table 3. Number of Electric Utilities by Class of Ownership and NERC Region, 1998
NERC Region a
Investor-
Owned Federal
State,
Municipal,
and Other
Government Cooperative Total
ECAR ................. 43 0 228 103 374
ERCOT ................ 6 0 66 58 130
FRCC ................. 3 0 31 12 46
MAAC ................. 18 0 49 19 86
MAIN .................. 17 0 131 33 181
MAPP ................. 14 0 486 171 671
NPCC ................. 58 0 127 10 195
SERC ................. 20 2 352 262 636
SPP................... 11 0 250 86 347
WSCC ................. 27 7 253 137 424
Subtotal NERC 217 9 1973 891 3090
Alaskab ................ 19 0 36 21 76
Hawaiib ................ 3 0 0 0 3
U.S. Total ............. 239 9 2,009 912 3,169
a NERC is the North American Electric Reliability Council, formed in 1968 by the electric utility industry to promote the reliability
and adequacy of bulk power supply in the electric utility systems of North America.
b Alaska and Hawaii are not full members of NERC.
Note: See Figure 7 for a map of NERC regions.
Source: Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, “Annual Electric Utility Report.”
Power Administration, the Western Area Power Administration,
the Southwestern Power Administration, and
the Southeastern Power Administration (Figure 10).
These Federal utilities exist to market and sell the power
produced at Federal hydroelectric projects. They also
purchase energy for resale from other electric utilities in
the United States and Canada.
The ninth Federal utility is the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA), the largest Federal power producer,
which operates its own power plants and sells the power
in the Tennessee Valley region in both the wholesale and
retail markets. The TVA generates electricity from coal,
gas, oil, and nuclear power as well as hydropower.
Of the Federal utilities, three are considered major
producers of electricity: the TVA, the USACE, and the
USBR. Generation by the USACE, except for the North
Central Division (Saint Mary's Falls at Sault Ste. Marie,
Michigan) and by the USBR, is marketed by the four
PMAs.
Consumers of Federal power are usually large industrial
consumers or Federal installations. Most of the remaining
energy generated by non-profit Federal utilities
is sold in the wholesale market to publicly owned
utilities and rural cooperatives for resale at cost. These
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wholesale consumers have preference claims to Federal
electricity. Only the surplus remaining after meeting the
energy requirements of preference consumers is sold to
investor-owned utilities.
Other Publicly Owned Utilities
Publicly owned electric utilities can be categorized as
generators and nongenerators. (In contrast, virtually all
investor-owned electric utilities own and operate generating
capacity.) Generators are those electric utilities that
own and operate generating capacity to supply some or
all of their customers’ needs. However, some generators
supplement their production by purchasing power. The
nongenerators rely exclusively on power purchases.
Their primary function is to distribute electricity to their
consumers. The nongenerators comprise over half of the
total number of publicly owned electric utilities.
Other publicly owned utilities include municipal
authorities, State authorities, public power districts, irrigation
districts, and other State organizations. Municipal
utilities tend to be concentrated in cities where the loads
are small. They exist in every State except Hawaii, but
most are located in the Midwest and Southeast. State
authorities are utilities that function in a manner similar
to Federal utilities. They generate or purchase electricity
Energy Information Administration/ The Changing Structure of the Electric Power Industry 2000: An Update