Wholesale price of energy

The financial and economic feasibility of hydroelectric dams depends on the value of the electricity they produce. The financial wholesale price of electricity refers to the price the dam operator actually receives. The economic value of electricity - i.e. the real value of that energy to the economy - may be different from the financial price due to taxes, subsidies or monopoly pricing that applies to the financial price. In the calculator, you should use an average of the price projected to actually be paid to power generators in the country where it is located. If necessary, the calculator will use a conversion factor to calculate the electricity's economic value.

It is important to use the wholesale price and not the retail price that consumers pay. The consumers' price includes the cost of transmission, distribution and any administrative or other fees that might be imposed by regulators of the electricity sector.

Here is a simple graphic breakdown about wholesale versus retail electricity.
Read a report showing the relationship between retail prices and wholesale costs.
View some wholesale market data for six major electricity trading hubs.
Read a paper by OECD and Inter-American Development Bank on designing competitive wholesale electricity markets for Latin American countries.