Widespread initiatives to promote greater competition in the U.S. electricity industry have focused attention on the States and their progress toward regulatory restructuring. Anyone interested in the status of those efforts or in detailed statistical profiles of State electricity industries might consult the Energy Information Administration's State Electricity Profiles. In chapters on all 50 States and the District of Columbia, the report offers data on generating capability, generation, retail sales, revenues, fuel use, capacity factors for nuclear plants, and pollutant emissions. An introductory narrative discusses each State's unique features and circumstances with respect to electricity generation, and a map shows the five largest generating plants and the service areas of the five largest utilities (if investor-owned).
A few facts drawn from Missouri's profile help illustrate the breadth of information available. Missouri utilities generated 68 billion kilowatthours of electricity in 1996, most of it from coal (see figure). That total represented a 25-percent increase since 1986. The State ranked 19th among all States in utility generation and was a net exporter of electricity. Its coal-fired generating plants were, on average, 25 years old in 1996, while its oil-fired, gas-fired, nuclear, and hydroelectric generating plants averaged 23 years, 21 years, 12 years, and 35 years old respectively. Except for oil, utility delivered fuel prices have fallen sharply since 1986, declining an average of 6.6 percent per year for coal and 3.8 percent per year for natural gas. Emissions of sulfur dioxide fell to less than 40 percent of 1986 levels by 1996. Carbon dioxide emissions also fell significantly in the late 1980s, but rose from 1993 through 1996.
Missouri had 139 utilities in 1996: 5 investor-owned, 89 public, and 45 cooperative. Together they served nearly 2.6 million retail customers. Of total retail sales of 65 billion kilowatthours, investor-owned utilities accounted for 70 percent. Revenues from retail sales totaled nearly $4 billion.
The Missouri Public Service Commission established a Retail Electric Competition Task Force in 1997 to study retail wheeling and related issues. In May 1998 the task force issued its recommendations and a bill was introduced in the legislature to restructure the State's electric power industry and begin retail competition by January 2000. No action was taken in the 1998 session, although pilot programs have been created.
State Electricity Profiles concludes with a chapter of parallel summary statistics for the United States as a whole. The narrative reviews the effects of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, changes in the fuel mix of generating capacity, and Federal activity on restructuring.
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File last modified: March 30, 1999
