Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Electrical Power and Energy Systems journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes Developing a network DEA model for sustainability analysis of Iran’s electricity distribution network Mohammad Tavassoli, Saeedeh Ketabi ⁎ , Mahsa Ghandehari Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Hezarjerib St., Isfahan, Iran ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Network DEA Sustainability Electricity distribution network ABSTRACT Purpose: In recent years, most organizations have been dealing with many economic, environmental and social problems. Iran’s Electricity Distribution Network (EDN) with different supply stages involving generation, transmission, and distribution is a good case of a complex system engaging in sustainable activities; they must incorporate environmental and social concerns into traditional economic objectives. Assessing the sustainability of EDNs is complicate because it involves a variety of inputs, outputs and inter-related inputs/outputs at any stage of the network for which the importance of each stage may vary. Methodology: This paper proposes a new network data envelopment analysis (NDEA) model for assessing the sustainability of EDNs and their components. The proposed method has the following characteristics: All gen- eration, transmission, and distribution stages, as well as the overall performance of the network, are evaluated in a unified framework; Undesirable outputs, re-work, and external inputs are considered in the model; Different weights for stages, determined by decision-makers, have been implemented to cause different effects on the network performance; The strengths and weaknesses of EDNs’ components are identified; The effect of each dimension of sustainability on the performance of EDNs’ components is investigated. Finding: The result of this study indicates that the Gharb EDN with an efficiency score of 0.8487 has the best performance and Mazandaran EDN with an efficiency score of 0.4667 has the worst performance. Based on the results, the paper proposes how to reduce inefficiencies in each stage of the network. 1. Introduction The electricity industry is one of the major components of economic development among countries that plays a significant role in economic growth. It is estimated that global investment in electricity generation and supply accounts for two-thirds of total energy investment. This industry plays a crucial role in creating the economic activity of each country, which is recognized in most countries as the mother industry. Most governments have considered the industry as an infrastructure industry because of its vital role in the development and prosperity of the countries [40,45]. The efficient utilization of the resources in the electricity industry has always been an important issue for researchers and professionals. Increasing fuel prices, rising energy consumption as a result of rapid population growth, production of environmental pollu- tants and environmental protection have added importance to the process of improving the electricity industry. As Vaninsky [39] argued, electric power production consists of different stages involving generation, transmission, and distribution. The transmission stage is in the center of these processes which has a significant role in the efficiency of the whole system. According to Iran’s electricity industry, power plants are responsible for electricity generation and electricity distribution companies are in charge of dis- tributing electricity to consumers. Regional electricity companies at the center of this process are responsible for transmitting electricity from the power plants to electricity distribution companies, which is carried out through posts, electricity transmission lines by selling energy in the Iranian electricity market. Performance evaluation as one of the tasks of management is ob- vious and undeniable. Through performance evaluation, weaknesses and consequently inefficient resources in each of the generation, transmission and distribution stages in the EDN can be identified. On the other hand, regarding the fierce competition between large com- panies and increasing environmental concerns, focusing only on eco- nomic criteria is not enough. Therefore, other aspects of evaluation should be taken into account. One of which is sustainability [16]. As described in Giannakis and Papadopoulos [14], sustainability has three dimensions which can be classified as environment, economy, and so- ciety. Social sustainability is concerned with identifying and managing https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2020.106187 Received 6 February 2020; Received in revised form 18 March 2020; Accepted 10 May 2020 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: sketabi@ase.ui.ac.ir (S. Ketabi), m.ghandehari@ase.ui.ac.ir (M. Ghandehari). Electrical Power and Energy Systems 122 (2020) 106187 0142-0615/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T