Politics of self-service wheeling and wheeling to end-users

Since there are more political than transmission issues involved in wheeling for cogenerators, the author describes three political classes of wheeling wholesale, self-service, and retail. He describes the nature of each and the effect upon the utility. He shows that a utility can engage in wholesale wheeling transactions with little risk, while self-service wheeling can open the utility to charges of favored rate breaks. Retail wheeling hurts the residential ratepayer because, while it may be a competitive way to provide electricity as a commodity, it is not competitive in providing the service. Cogenerators would have to reconfigure themselves to become a utility if they are to provide the same services. 1 figure.