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 is an economist specializing in the electricity industry with particular emphasis on the review of wholesale energy and capacity market design, electricity regulatory pricing, and marginal cost studies. For over 15 years, she has advised utilities and regulatory commissions around the world on regulatory and industry restructuring issues including: power auction design; generation capacity market reforms; review of transmission cost-allocation policies; electricity tariff reforms; marginal and avoided cost studies; development of utility demand-response programs; 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 ISO-New England on the review of certain aspects of the New England forward capacity market and provided recommendations for improvement.
- Evaluated the role of retail demand response and energy efficiency programs in utility resource planning for a number of utilities in the US.
- Advised and trained the utility and regulatory staff on utility marginal cost studies and design of electricity time-of-use tariff options in Europe, 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 compliance of their operations with the wholesale market and reliability rules within Midwest ISO and PJM.
- Advised the Australian regulatory energy commission on mechanisms to encourage efficient expansion of transmission network and alternatives to accommodate renewable generation.
- Contributed to the development of a regulatory mitigation strategy to address electricity market power in Ireland.
- Advised on the design of power purchase agreements with independent generation in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
Ms. Nieto is the Director of the Marginal Cost Working Group (MCWG), an energy industry forum for electric and gas utilities across the US and Canada focused on ongoing issues regarding regulatory pricing and marginal cost studies. She has presented numerous papers on energy regulatory and restructuring issues at the MCWG and other industry forums. Ms. Nieto has published several papers in The Electricity Journal and the Centre for the Study of Regulated Industries (CRI), and co-authored the NERA energy monograph, The Line in the Sand: The Shifting Boundary Between Markets and Regulation in Network Industries (2007).
Languages
English
Spanish
