The Feds

Regulating Utility Data

West Monroe

“The reality is that how regulators rule on the accessibility and availability of utility data may determine whether a state can remotely achieve state decarbonization goals.”

Is Good Utility Regulation in Jeopardy?

Balance and Adaptability are Critical

The three mortal sins of utility regulation are ideology, ignorance and inertia (the three I's). Acting on political beliefs, inadequate information, and past conditions that no longer exist is a recipe for poor regulation.

Dodd-Frank and Electric Utilities

Understanding the new mosaic of commodities trading regulations.

Compliance with Dodd-Frank might not be as complicated as feared; however, companies must be vigilant in order to maintain the relevant exemptions.

When Labor's Locked Out

ConEd, public safety, and the regulatory response.

Last summer’s union lockout at Consolidated Edison raised novel legal and regulatory questions that remain unresolved. Organized labor can strike, and management can respond, but do state utility commissions have authority to end a lockout that threatens service?

Federal Feud

The jurisdictional battle rages on, with FERC and EPA squaring off against the states.

When Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led an attack on the federal Springfield Armory in January 1787—the spark that ignited the federalist movement—he scarcely could’ve guessed that now, 225 years later, his spiritual descendants would still be fighting that very same battle.

Dividend Double-Take

What happens when the Bush tax cuts expire?

Congress again is embroiled in another hyper-partisan food fight that threatens to blow up into a fiscal crisis. And once again dividend-paying companies like utilities are caught in the crossfire.