Amparo Nieto
Senior Consultant
Education
MA, with Honors, in economic analysis and public finance, Fiscal Studies Institute, Madrid
BA in economics, Carlos III University, Madrid
Experience
Ms. Nieto specializes in the regulation of the electricity industry with particular emphasis on the design of efficient regulatory pricing and electricity and natural gas cost studies. For over 15 years, she has advised utilities and regulatory commissions around the world on regulatory and market restructuring issues including: electricity tariff reforms; marginal and avoided cost studies; development of utility demand-response programs; power auction design; generation capacity market reforms; review of transmission cost-allocation policies and their impact on efficient network investment; and design of regulatory mechanisms to support investment in renewable resources. She has written position papers on behalf of clients, which have been filed as part of regulatory proceedings.
Examples of Ms. Nieto's project experience include:
- Advised and trained the utility and regulatory staff on utility marginal cost studies, review of revenue requirements, design of electricity time-of-use tariffs and dynamic pricing options, and power purchase agreements for independent generation in Europe, the US, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
- Advised ISO-New England on a review of the design of the New England forward capacity market and provided recommendations for improvement.
- Evaluated the role of market-based demand response and energy efficiency programs in utility load forecasting and resource planning for a number of utilities in the US and Canada.
- Advised the energy regulatory commissions of Pennsylvania, US, and Madrid, Spain, on implementation of descending-clock auctions for the acquisition of power on behalf of Default Service distributors.
- Assisted US retailers regarding their strategic operations and compliance with the wholesale market and reliability rules within Midwest ISO, PJM, and NYISO.
- Advised the regulatory entity in Slovakia in the design of a feed-in tariff scheme for the support of Renewables, as well as alternative methods.
- Advised on mechanisms to encourage efficient expansion of transmission network and to accommodate renewable generation in New Zealand and Australia.
- Contributed to develop a regulatory strategy to address electricity market power mitigation in Ireland.
Ms. Nieto is the Director of the Marginal Cost Working Group (MCWG), an energy industry forum that discusses on-going issues regarding energy rate design and cost studies affecting electric and gas utilities across the US. She has presented numerous papers on energy regulatory and restructuring issues at the MCWG and other industry forums. Ms. Nieto has been published in the Centre for the Study of Regulated Industries (CRI) and The Electricity Journal, and contributed to the NERA energy monograph, The Line in the Sand: The Shifting Boundary Between Markets and Regulation in Network Industries (2007).
Languages
English
Spanish
