A life cycle of electricity reform: an Australian practitioners experience

Competitive reform is at the forefront of power industry issues around the globe. Major reforms of the type we are experiencing began at the very end of the 1980s and are still gathering pace. Australia, began reform of our industry in earnest in the early 1990s and opened a market, at least for the eastern and southern mainland states, at the end of 1998. State based markets operated from 1994. The author examines the progression in Australia from the initial high-level policy decision to pursue competitive reform, through development, start up and the early years of operation. The author concludes with some thoughts on what a mature competitive market might look like.