Investor's experience

Macquarie is a global investment bank based in Australia whose international focus is on power infrastructure and utilities. This presentation described how utilities evolve from integrated utilities to fully unbundled entities. In the first stage, utilities are vertically integrated and owned by government and are highly regulated. The second stage of transition involves the unbundling of the utility into separate generation, transmission and distribution companies, each preparing for competition. The third stage involves the introduction of competition to power generation and retail sectors. Transmission and distribution remains regulated in the third stage. The fourth stage is a period of convergence between electricity and gas. Deregulation results in major structural changes and utility managers have to decide how the utility can best deliver value to the shareholders in the new environment. This presentation demonstrated how these lessons can be applied to the case of electric power industry deregulation in Alberta and noted that the province is a good place to invest in the electric power industry. tabs., figs