Answer:
a) The price that maximizes profit is p =$43.
b) The utility shouldn't pass all this increase on the consumers because this would mean a decrease in the profits. They should pass only $7 to consumers price.
Step-by-step explanation:
We have an electric utility company which has a demand function defined by:
where p is the price and x is the the energy in thousands of kWh.
The cost of the company is defined as:
We have to calculate the price that maximizes the utility's profit R(x).
We can define the profit as:
.
To maximize R, we have to derive it and equal to zero
The price that maximizes the profit is then:
b) When the unit cost rise from $27 to $41, the utility profit function changes.
We have to calculate the new price that maximizes profit, and then we will know if the rise in cost was transferred to price completely.
The new profit function is:
To maximize R, we have to derive it and equal to zero
We calculate the new price as:
The new price is $7 dollars above the previous maximizing price, so the rise in unit cost is only transferred 50% to the price.
The utility shouldn't pass all this increase on the consumers because this would mean a decrease in the profits. They should pass only $7 to consumers price.