The article cited below is from the January issue of Computer Applic in Power, and for non-subscribers interested in T&D issues, it happens to be available in its entirety on the IEEE website: http://teaser.ieee.org/pubs/mags/9905/rahimi.html

I thought you might find it useful as an overview of the various ways transmission systems are being organized around the world.

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Who’s coming to the IEEE PICA Meeting in Santa Clara this month (May 17-20)??

Let me know, and maybe we can get together, or at least say hello at the conference.
Complete details available at: http://www.pica99.org
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Remember QuickStab? (UFTO Note March 22) Dr. Savalescu will be at PICA, and would be pleased to offer a private demonstration. Give him a call!
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(I just joined IEEE, and am beginning to appreciate the wealth of information it provides to the power industry.)
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IEEE Computer Applications in Power January, 1999 Volume 12 Number 1 (ISSN 0895-0156)

Meet the Emerging Transmission Market Segments
Farrokh A. Rahimi & Ali Vojdani

Around the globe, the electric industry is undergoing sweeping restructuring. The trend started in the 1980s in the U.K. and some Latin American countries, and has gained momentum in the 1990s. The main motivation and driving forces for restructuring of the electric industry in different countries are not necessarily the same. In some countries, such as the U.K. and the Latin American countries, privatization of the electric industry has provided a means of attracting funds from the private sector to relieve the burden of heavy government subsidies. In the countries formerly under centralized control (central and eastern Europe), the process follows the general trend away from centralized government control and towards increased privatization and decentralization. It also provides a vehicle to attract foreign capital needed in these countries. In the United States and several other countries where the electric industry has for the most part been owned by the private sector, the trend is toward increased competition and reduced regulation.

This article presents an overview of the evolving structural models and the main structural components of the emerging deregulated electricity industry. An analysis of the central structural components, namely the independent system operator (ISO) and the power exchange (PX), is provided and used as a basis for structural classification with a view to the supporting computer application needs.