Abstract
Data Envelopment Analysis is an optimization technique based on benchmarking, developed to measure the relative behavior of different utilities, in which the presence of multiple input and output variables, like the size of the utility and its geographical location among others external factors, make difficult the comparison of its performance. The technique has been applied to evaluate the relative efficiency of the utilities adscript to the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum of Venezuela. The results will include a ranking of efficiency, an analysis of sensibility for each of the considered variable and the gaps among these variable, to obtain greater information for the improvement of the management and the formulation of the necessary features that permit the progressive increment of the relative efficiency with the one that each utility is performed. The methodology has been applied successfully and the efficiency ranking of the electrical distribution utilities has been established.