The Australian electricity industry restructuring process involves fun
ctional separation, corporatisation and, in some cases, privatization
of the pre-existing state-owned supply authorities. The end point will
be, for the southern and eastern states, a multi-region 'National Ele
ctricity Market' (NEM) which is regulated at the federal government le
vel, and retail electricity markets which are implemented and regulate
d at the state government level. This paper provides an overview of th
e Australian electricity industry restructuring process and then focus
es on the performance of the NEM and its precursors, the NSW and Victo
rian state markets. Recent criticisms of the restructuring process are
reviewed and conclusions are drawn about progress to date and future
prospects. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.