Regulation

Arizona Commissioners’ Views on a Non-jurisdictional Utility’s Cost-Cutting Plan

Electricity, Politics, Regulation / By

Michael Giberson The Salt River Project is, among other things, a fairly substantial electric utility serving customers in the state of Arizona. As it is a state-chartered entity, not an investor-owned utility, it is not subject to regulation by the Arizona Corporation Commission. But that didn’t stop a couple of Arizona state commissioners from opining …

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Origins of State Electric Utility Regulation: Was It Protection of Quasi-rents Not Creation of Monopoly Rents?

Economic history, Economics, Electricity, Regulation / By

Michael Giberson There is by now a fairly established body of economic history work that challenges what might be called the mainstream view of the origins of state regulation of electric utilities and offers as an alternative a nakedly public choice view that state regulation was all about creation of monopoly rents. The mainstream view …

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No Regulator Has or Will Have the Information, Expertise, or Esp Required to Do This

3 Comments / Economics, Energy markets, Regulation / By

Michael Giberson The title is lifted directly out of Craig Pirrong’s post on the Treasury departments proposal to “crack down on off-exchange trading of exotic financial instruments blamed for sparking last year’s crisis” (in the words of yesterday’s WSJ article). The Treasury wants derivatives contracts that commonly trade over-the-counter to trade through a centralized clearinghouse …

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Hartford Courant Editorializes Against Zone Pricing Ban in Connecticut

Energy markets, Politics, Regulation / By

Michael Giberson From the Hartford Courant (May 11, 2009): A bill in the General Assembly that would force gasoline wholesalers to charge the same price to retail dealers across Connecticut would likely raise the price of fuel for most motorists and make the market less responsive to competition. Legislation to ban so-called zone pricing has …

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Munson: From Edison to Enron to Casten

Economic history, Electricity, Regulation / By

Michael Giberson Richard Munson’s book From Edison to Enron provides a pretty engaging run through the history of the electric power business in the United States.  The title actually understates the scope just a bit on each end, with Munson touching briefly on developments before Thomas Edison gets involved and discussing developments after Enron’s 2001 …

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Electric Power Consumers in New Jersey Are Pursuing Lower Prices

Electricity, Regulation / By

Michael Giberson An NJBIZ story reports that non-utility electric retailers in New Jersey are having more success attracting smaller and mid-size customers in recent months, largely because the non-utility retailers can provide a price based on currently-low spot energy prices while utilities have their energy costs established in the state’s periodic “basic generation service” auction. …

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Connecticut Attorney General Proposes New State Energy Agency to Combat Incentives for Economic Efficiency

4 Comments / Electricity, Energy markets, Politics, Regulation / By

Michael Giberson In economic theory, in lab experiments, in practice – pretty much generally speaking – it is well established in economics that a uniform clearing price auction works better than a pay-as-bid auction in cases such as the spot markets for power operated by the NYISO and ISO-New England (and every similar market in …

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