House rules to reduce the game play time of Power Grid

Question

Are there any fair rules for shortening the playing time of Power Grid?

It seems obvious to end the game on less powered cities (rather than the 17 default), but this often skews the phase 2 for the non-leading players. I've considered also moving phase 2 sooner as well. Does anyone have any good ways to shorten the game?

Answer 1

This is a good question, and I'm afraid I don't have a great answer. I think the creators addressed this question a bit with the creation of the Benelux board. When you play with that board you always remove the lowest power plant. That speeds things up a lot.