Project Report on Monopoly

With Respect to WAPDA

BY
ZUBAIR AHMAD
SYED IRFAN ULLAH SHAH
ROLL NO. 2905
ROLL NO. 2907

SUBMITTED TO
Sir. IMRAN KHALIL

MBA (General)
SECOND SEMESTER (EVENING)

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGERIAL SCIENCES

CITY UNIVERSITY OF PESHAWAR
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN
Session 2008-2009
 Table of Content

1. Acknowledgment ………….………………………………………………. 03

2. Executive Summary ………………………………………...……………. 04

3. Introduction......................................................................... 05
3.1 Market Structure......................................................... 05

3.2 Market Power ............................................................. 06

3.3 Monopoly..................................................................... 06

3.4 Barriers of Monopoly ………………………………. 07

3.5 Price and Marginal Revenue…………………… 08

3.6 Price Setting……………………………………… 09

4. Problem Statement ……………………........................................... 10

5. Methodology…………………………………………………………………. 11

5.1 Price discrimination…………………………………..

6. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………… 17

7. References ……………………….…………………………………………… 18
 Acknowledgment

I would like to thanks my cousin Mr. Nasir Shakoor for his enormous help in typing

the manuscript.

The work of a large number of Authors has contributed to the body of knowledge in

this script and it would be impossible to thank them individually or to provide detailed

references to their work in a concise Project. The list at the end incorporates

references and my thanks to them all.

I would also like to thank our teacher Mr. Sir Imran Khalil, for his tremendous

support and his thorough teaching that helped in the characterizing and compilation of

this report.

.
 Executive Summary
Monopoly is a well defined market structure where there is only one seller
who controls the entire market supply, as there are no close substitutes for his product
and there are number of barriers to the entry of rival producers. Since entry is
blocked, the monopolist can earn economic profits in the long run. Buyers have no
alternative or choice. They have either to buy the product or go without it. A
monopoly firm itself being the industry, it faces a downward-sloping demand curve
for its product. That means it cannot sell more output unless the price is lowered. A
monopolist is a price maker and not a price taker. In fact his price fixing power is
absolute. He is in a position to fix the price for the product, as he likes. He can vary
the price from buyer to buyer.

Electricity is an essential requirement for all facets of our life. It is a critical

infrastructure on which the socio economic development of a country depends. The
electric power sector in Pakistan is operated by the Water and Power Development
Authority (WAPDA), and the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC), with
additional generation contribution from Independent (private) Power Producers
(IPPs). The power sector has been plagued with problems of high transmission and
distribution losses (T&D), largely due to theft of electricity and supply losses,
uncollected bills, large outstanding dues to central sector companies, inadequate
investment, inadequate distribution network, operational efficiency and irrational
tariff structures leading to unsustainable cross subsidies, with low tariffs for
agriculture and households, poor efficiency of thermal power plants, low calorific
coal. The nature of competition in power sector is monopoly in nature where prices of
power are being fixed by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).In
the concern report we are interested to get familiar with the nature of Monopoly in
the shape of WAPDA.

In the first part of the report a comprehensive introduction about The Monopoly
is given. An attention is paid to discuss Price Discrimination and Limits of Monopoly.
In the second part a brief scenario of the WAPDA current assets, demand and supply
is given. The Losses and shortage it faces is highlighted. And finally WAPDA is
discussed as an example of Monopoly.

At the end of the report the Abuses of Monopoly in term of WAPDA are pointed
out and respective suggestion are given in the conclusion.
 Introduction
Market structure
1. The competitive environment in the market for any product is the market
structure faced by the firm
– Is measured in terms of
• the number of the actual buyers and sellers plus
potential entrants
• Barriers to entry and exit
• Capital requirements
• Price vs. Non-price competition
– Potential entrants pose a sufficiently credible threat of entry to
affect price/output decisions of incumbents
2. Factors that Shape the Competitive Environment
• Product Differentiation
– R&D, innovation, and advertising are important in many
markets.
• Production Methods
– Economies of scale can rule out small-firm size.
• Entry and Exit Conditions
– Barriers to entry and exit can shelter incumbents from potential
entrants.
• Buyer Power
– Powerful buyers can limit seller power.
 The firm in competitive markets Non-perfect competition

Perfect competition Monopoly

Oligopoly

Monopolistic
competition

Market Power
• In pure competition sellers are “price takers.”
o No seller [or buyer] has the ability to influence the market
price.
• In most markets, at least one or more of the conditions required for
pure competition are violated. This gives sellers or buyers the ability to
influence the market price and allocation of resources
• Market power is the ability of an agent to influence the price of a good
they sell or buy and to alter the allocation of resources.

Sources of market power:

· monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition

· Institutional structure {laws, regulations customs, mores, . . .}

Firms with market power must decide:

1. how much to produce,

2. how to produce it,
3. how much to demand in each input market, and
4. What price to charge for their output?

Monopoly
Monopoly is a market structure in which only one producer
or seller exists for a product that has no close substitutes.
This sole seller in the market is called “monopolist”. The term monopolist is derived
from the Greek word “mono”, meaning “single”, and “polist” meaning seller. Thus
the monopolist may be defined as the sole seller of a product which has no close
substitutes.
Examples of Monopoly

– Electricity utilities
– Gas
– Water
– Public Transports
– Telecommunications

Barriers to entry
Legal or natural constraints that protect a firm from potential competitors are
called barriers to entry.
Legal barriers to entry create a legal monopoly, a market in which competition and
entry are restricted by the granting of a:
 Public franchise
 Government license (like a license to practice law or medicine)
 Patent and copyright
Natural barriers to entry create a natural monopoly, which is an industry in which
one firm can supply the entire market at a lower price than two or more firms can.
In a natural monopoly, economies of scale are so powerful that they are still being
achieved even when the entire market demand is met.
The ATC curve is still sloping downward when it meets the demand curve.

Characteristics of Monopoly

 Since entry is blocked, the monopolist can earn economic profits in the
long run.
  The individual supply of the monopolist coincides with the market
supply
 Buyers have no alternative or choice. They have either to buy the
product or go without it.
 A monopolist is a price maker and not a price taker. In fact his price
fixing power is absolute. He is in a position to fix the price for the product, as
he likes. He can vary the price from buyer to buyer. Thus in a competitive
industry, there is a single ruling price, while in a monopoly, there may be
differentials.
 A monopoly firm itself being the industry, it faces a downward-sloping
demand curve for its product. That means it cannot sell more output unless the
price is lowered.
 Since a monopolist has a complete control over the market supply in
the absence of a close or remote substitute for his product, he can fix the price
as well as quantity of be sold in the market.
 Monopolists can earn losses in the short run if demand is not sufficient
or if costs are too high.

Price and Marginal Revenue

A monopoly is a price setter, not a price taker like a firm in perfect competition.
The reason is that the demand curve for the monopoly’s output is the market demand
curve.
• To sell a larger output, a monopoly must set a lower price.
• Total revenue, TR, is the price, P, multiplied by the quantity sold, Q.
• Marginal revenue, MR, is the change in total revenue that results from
a one-unit increase in the quantity sold.
For a single-price monopoly, marginal revenue is less than the price at each level of
output. That is,
MR < P

Suppose the monopoly sets a price of $16 and sells 2 units. TR= $32
Now suppose the firm cuts the price to $14 to sell 3 units. TR= $42
So total revenue increases by $10, which is marginal revenue
You can see that MR < P at each quantity.

Marginal PRINCIPLE
"Increase the level of an activity if its marginal benefit exceeds its marginal cost,
but reduce the level if the marginal cost exceeds the marginal benefit. If
possible, pick the level at which the marginal benefit equals the marginal cost.

Price Setting
The monopoly faces the same types of technology constraints as the competitive firm,
but the monopoly faces a different market constraint.
The monopoly selects the profit-maximizing level of output in the same manner as a
competitive firm, where MR = MC.

• The firm produces the output at which MR = MC and sets the price to
sell that quantity.
• The ATC curve tells us the average cost.
• Economic profit is the profit per unit multiplied by the quantity
produced—the blue rectangle.
• Equilibrium price for a monopoly, PM, occurs on the demand curve at
the profit-maximizing quantity.
• Equilibrium output for a monopoly, QM, occurs where marginal
revenue equals marginal cost, MR = MC.
 • Consumer surplus is the area below the demand curve and above the
price.
• Producer surplus is the area below the price and above the marginal
cost curve.
• The sum of the two surpluses is maximized and the efficient quantity is
produced.
• Monopoly is inefficient because price exceeds marginal cost so
marginal benefit exceeds marginal cost.
• On all output levels for which marginal benefit exceeds marginal cost,
a deadweight loss is incurred.

Problem Statement

Pakistan's power industry, traditionally dominated by the massive monopoly

WAPDA and this report discusses the features of Monopoly in term of WAPDA.
What are the barriers around this Monopoly and what the current status of this
monopoly is? The main stress in this project is given to two aspects of WAPDA; it's
Price Discrimination and why this Gigantic Monopoly is in massive liabilities and
losses.

Monopoly is termed as "EVIL" for any society as being a solo actor, it harvest the
whole market, and in the shape of Price Discrimination its profit margin increases
two- fold, this demands that NEPRA must have a more strict watch on tariff and must
set the price into average cost level to give a relief to Pakistani public.

The massive liabilities and losses of WAPDA suggest that now it is the time for
Government of Pakistan to pay a keen attention to this Monopoly. It is clear that the
losses are their in Transmission and Distribution sector and GOP must takes measures
to invite the public sector to share T&D with WAPDA.

Methodology and Results

WAPDA's CURRENT STATUS
Electricity is an essential requirement for all facets of our life. It is a critical
infrastructure on which the socio economic development of a country depends.
Supply of electricity at reasonable prices is essential for Pakistan’s overall
development.

The electric power sector in Pakistan is operated by the Water and Power
Development Authority (WAPDA), and the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation
(KESC), with additional generation contribution from Independent (private) Power
Producers (IPPs). WAPDA is responsible for supplying power to all of Pakistan, with
the exception of Karachi, which is supplied by KESC. Currently, 15 IPPs operate in
Pakistan. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) regulates the
power sector in Pakistan, which includes power generation, transmission and
distribution. NEPRA is also responsible for determining electricity rates in Pakistan.

Power Generation Share

Public
Sector 70 %

Private
Sector 30%

Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) was created in 1958.In 2008
WAPDA has supply of more than 18.9 million electricity consumers. A staff of
32,000 WAPDA officers and officials and entire operations of 177,000 WAPDA
Employees. The local areas electricity distribution service was being performed by
various Regions of WAPDA. The environment and structure of the power industry
throughout the world is undergoing dramatic change. The power sector is moving
from monopoly to privatization and from integration to disintegration. Peshawar
Electric Supply Company (PESCO), located in Peshawar provides service of power
distribution to over 2.0 million consumers of all civil districts of N.W.F.P.

Total Install Capacity

The total installed capacity in 1959 was 119 MW, the creation of WAPDA
accelerated the pace of expansion of the electricity system and network which in 2007
had an installed capacity of 19505 MW, a 167 times increase in last 61 years, an
average annual growth rate of about 11.2% over the period 1959. An additional 6,428
MW are planned to be added to this installed electricity generation capacity by the
year 2010 through the IPPs, including 700 MW of Wind Power.
 Install Capacity in Country
Total Capacity 19 , 505 MW
, Nuclear
, Hydel ,2 %
6, , % 462
463 33

, Thermal
, ,
12 580
%
65

WAPDA+KESC
Sources of Generation
Furnace Oi
, l . %
, Coal 0. % 25 20
10

, Imports . %
30
, Hydro . %
31 40

, Gas . %
, Nuclear2. % 40 90
10

Consumption
Consumption Share of each Sector
Industries Agriculture
30% 14% Other
7%

Commercial
5%

Street lights
Household
1%
43%

Price Discrimination
Price discrimination is the practice of selling different units of a good or service for
different prices.To be able to price discriminate, a monopoly must:

 Identify and separate different buyer types

 Sell a product that cannot be resold

Price differences that arise from cost differences are not price discrimination.Price
discrimination converts consumer surplus into economic profit.

As a

single-price monopolist, this firm maximized profit by producing 8 units, where MR =

MC and selling them for $1,200 each.

By price discriminating, the firm can increase its profit.

Price Discrimination by WAPDA

Pesco Tariff Rates
Tariff A- Domestic Consumers

Up to 50 units Rs. 1.40/kWh

(51-100) Rs. 2.57/kWh
(101-300) Rs. 3.47/kWh
(301-1000) Rs. 5.75/kWh
Above 1000 units Rs. 6.9/kWh
Minimum Charges of Rs. 45 for Single phase and Rs. 100 for Three Phase

Tariff A- Commercial Consumers

Up to 100 units Rs. 6.8/kWh

Above 100 Units Rs. 7.6/kWh
For peak load Rs. 7.5/kWh
Minimum Charges of Rs. 150 for Single phase and Rs. 300 for Three Phase

Tariff B - Industrial Supply Tariff C - Bulk Supply

Tariff D – Agriculture

Increasing Demand and Losses

Demand and Supply Schedule:-
(In Mega Watt)
Year Demand Supply Shortage
2003 13,071 14,336 Surplus
2004 13,831 15,046 Surplus
2005 14,642 15,082 Surplus
2006 15,483 15,072 411
2007 16,548 15,091 1,457
2008 17,689 15,055 2,634
2009 19,080 15,055 4,025
2010 20,584 15,055 5,529

An average 7 per cent increase in the GDP is expected in future is going to increase
energy demand by 11 per cent annually. As government is now focusing more on
manufacturing sector whose share is going to increase at an average growth rate of 12
per cent per annum, it is expected to generate more demand for energy due to its
energy intensive structure. The potential of Hydel power generation is 46000MW
whereas installed capacity is only 6463 MW. If this capacity is not increased in near
future, we will not be able to achieve the targets sets for growth and economic
prosperity.

It is estimated that the annual financial losses of Wapda and KESC are increasing
since Wapda's losses alone were estimated at 817 million dollars for financial year
2006. The system losses of the two power utilities were also very significant. During
the 10 years between 1996 and 2005, Wapda's total system losses, including auxiliary
consumption of generation plants, transmission and distribution losses ranged
between 26 per cent while KESC's system losses ranged between 38 percent per cent

The power sector has been plagued with problems of high transmission and
distribution losses (T&D), largely due to theft of electricity and supply losses,
uncollected bills, large outstanding dues to central sector companies, inadequate
investment, inadequate distribution network, operational efficiency and irrational
tariff structures leading to unsustainable cross subsidies, with low tariffs for
agriculture and households, poor efficiency of thermal power plants, low calorific
coal.

It is very important to understand the consequence of the prevailing situation. Current

price of furnace oil is about Rs 22,000 per ton, which amount upto Rs 22/- per kg. On
an average one kg of furnace oil produces 3.8 kWh of electricity. Thus, the cost of
furnace oil for generating one unit of electricity is about Rs 6. On top of this the fixed
cost of a thermal plant works out to be about Rs 3 per unit. Therefore, one unit (kWh)
of the electricity produced by all thermal plants using furnace oil is Rs 9 per unit.
According to WAPDA/IPP agreement, the private power producers will charge
WAPDA the actual fuel cost for which they have a direct contract with PSO. As we
all know that WAPDA tariff charged from the consumers is about Rs 5 per unit
(kWh).

The production cost of furnace oil electricity is Rs 9 per unit, add to it the
transmission, distribution cost (including loses), "the total cost of such electricity
works out to approximately Rs 15 per kWh. The difference between WAPDA tariff
and the furnace oil electricity is Rs10 per kWh." It is estimated that the country
consumes at least 25 billion units of electricity produced annually through furnace oil,
which amounts to the total deficit of Rs 250 Billion. If WAPDA has to balance its
books it would require a subsidy of Rs 250 Billion. This deficit is somewhat reduced
due to cheap power produced through hydel energy and natural gas, but the deficit
cannot change substantially, unless bulk of electricity is produced through hydel
energy. Obviously, a deficit of Rs 300-350 Billion cannot be sustained, the
government does not have resources to pay such a huge subsidy, it is also not feasible
to increase the power tariff very much. Therefore the power crisis is far greater than
what is being perceived. In the absence of extremely heavy subsidy, WAPDA is
delaying payments to IPPs and also to the oil companies. The result is that IPPs are
now producing much less electricity than their capacity.

Conclusion
 In Pakistan, as in most of the developing world, the demand for power has far
exceeded production and supply. And since power is the basis for industry, country
faces massive losses every year. It means that despite the fact that wapda is a gigantic
monopoly yet it is continuously sinking due to its huge losses.

The cheapest resource for electricity is Hydel and then Gas. But due to poor planning
and political issues in the previous so many decades, no new installation has been
done with these two resources. Although gas is to be provided for 5800 MW to
various thermal plants, but in actual fact much less gas is being made available. This
ultimately makes the WAPDA to depend on IPPs and OIL electricity. The deficiency
is being filled through furnace oil. It can be inferred that in the recent past, only
furnace oil was used as fuel for about 9000 MW generation. The OIL prices are in
continuous fluctuation due to GEO_POLITICAL scenario and as soon as Prices of oil
increases the NEPRA has to give readjustment to the prices to make the IPPs in profit
zone. Already there is irrational tariff and price discrimination and further changes
make the "60 to 70 percent low income population" in troublesome and they increases
the electricity theft. So increase in prices makes a negative impact on WAPDA total
revenue in the shape of T&D losses. Currently the country loses 29 billion units of
electricity annually due to heavy losses in the system. All efforts must be genuinely
applied to reduce the losses. If losses are reduced by even 5 percent, the saving will be
over 7 Billion rupees.

To any planner, it should be obvious that the country cannot afford electricity
produced through oil. Indigenous fuels like coal, gas, atomic will have to be
developed and developed quickly. The final solution however lies in depending
on the hydroelectric renewable energy. The government has announced that
immediately 1200 MW of additional plants will be set-up. If these plants will
operate on furnace oil, the deficit will further increase. At present the country has
about 28 Trillion cft of recoverable gas available, the yearly consumption is about
1.2 Trillion cft, which means that even if gas consumption is increased, the
existing recoverable gas will be sufficient for the next 15 years.

WAPDA has undergone widespread changes in the past decades, with the extensive
development of the private sector. Of course, the economic benefits of privatization
are now widely accepted; it not only works better and yields quick rewards but it
makes for efficiency, higher output, increasing profitability and developing a
competitive industry which serves consumers well. The problem that arises, though,
is that privatization is always political; governments have aims that are non-economic.
These, can be ensuring that enterprises are not forced to close down, reducing budget
deficits, raising revenue and so on. There are also political obstacles to overcome,
mainly the closed and conservative attitudes of state-owned management who are
generally unfamiliar with the ways of the market place. Publicly-owned and operated
enterprises are normally driven by political gain, and bear little relevance to
production, quality or the safeguarding of the consumer. In most cases where power is
still in the public sector, and certainly in Pakistan, the set-up and plant have become
highly inefficient and obsolete. The level of investment required for greater efficiency
would be enormous.

References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAPDA

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electric_supply_companies_in_Pakistan

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_in_Pakistan

4. http://www.wapda.gov.pk/

5. http://www.aedb.org/re_sector.php

6. http://www.ppib.gov.pk/SupplyDemand.htm

7. http://www.pesco.gov.pk/

8. http://www.nepra.org.pk/index.htm

9. http://www.unclaw.com/chin/teaching/antitrust/monopoly.htm

10. http://webpages.marshall.edu/~agesaj/week11_250.html

11. http://courses.ttu.edu/econ3320-kdesilva/Lecture14.ppt

12.http://pakistaniat.com/2008/01/03/more-crises-in-pakistan-electricity-flour-
sugar-water-sui-gas-crises-what-is-the-way-out/