Performance evaluation in Portuguese electricity distribution utilities

Santos, Sérgio Pereira dos; Amado, Carla; Rosado, Joaquim

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/4472

Use this identifier to reference this record.

Name:	Description:	Size:	Format:
[27] Santos et al. (2007) Performance evaluation in Portuguese electricity distribution utilities.pdf		1.66 MB	Adobe PDF	Download

Send Feedback

Authors

Santos, Sérgio Pereira dos

Amado, Carla

Rosado, Joaquim

Abstract(s)

The Portuguese electricity system has undergone a major transformation in recent years due to its integration in the liberalised Iberian market. The group responsible for the electricity generation and distribution in Portugal (EDP) has been consistently focusing in service quality and efficiency. In the last 3 years, a stringent cost cutting and efficiency improvement program was implemented. This paper conducted a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) study to measure the relative efficiency of the 14 electricity distribution units belonging to EDP. A dynamic analysis using Malmquist Indices was also conducted in order to evaluate the changes in productivity from 2002 to 2005. Our results show that, on average, we can find evidence of 2% productivity gains in the Portuguese electricity distribution sector. Furthermore, we found evidence of significant discrimination among regional areas, suggesting that a benchmarking exercise based on the DEA results could be valuable for performance improvement in some regions.