Can competitive electricity markets coordinate the production of electricity from all supply resources in order to minimize costs, produce reasonable prices, and keep the lights on?

At Potomac Economics, you would be a valuable member of a market monitoring team that studies wholesale electricity markets throughout the United States. This includes designing, creating, and utilizing databases and custom software to analyze a wide array of market data. The team uses this monitoring software to evaluate the performance of competitive electricity markets, identify potential improvements in market design, and detect attempts to manipulate the market or exercise market power.

• Conduct quantitative and economic analyses of wholesale electricity market outcomes to assess competitiveness, efficiency, and reliability.
• Design and perform statistical and economic analyses to evaluate market performance and identify areas for improvement in market design.
• Develop efficient python code to process, analyze, and visualize large electricity market datasets.
• Develop dashboards, figures, and tables to clearly communicate analytical results to internal and external stakeholders.
• Enhance existing data processing tools and software used in market monitoring and policy evaluation.
• Identify and implement improvements to analytical methods and software systems.
• Summarize and communicate analytical findings clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Write well-structured, maintainable, and reusable code to support recurring analyses.
• Work productively and independently while contributing to team goals.

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Required

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Economics, Applied Economics, Data Science, or another relevant field of study.
• 3 or more years of experience conducting quantitative or economic analyses, preferably in energy or electricity markets.
• Strong analytical and data management skills, with attention to accuracy and reproducibility.
• Understanding of energy markets, including market structure, pricing, and competition dynamics.
• Strong technical writing skills.

Preferred

• Experience evaluating or designing wholesale electricity market rules, pricing mechanisms, or market power mitigation measures.
• 3 or more years of experience with data analysis and programming experience in Python, Pandas, or similar tools.
• Familiarity with large energy market operations datasets (e.g., from ISO/RTOs).
• Experience working with large energy market datasets.
• Knowledge of market design, transmission economics, or policy analysis.
• Familiarity with tools such as NumPy, Matplotlib, Plotly, or Power BI.
• Interest and ability to use modern AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot) to enhance coding, data analysis, and workflow efficiency.