Retail Markets

Competition Hard

Full of Promise, And Then ...

The benefits of retail competition for residential customers might not be all that much.

History Repeats: Retail Wholesale

Unchosen Surprises in Choice

It was increasingly recognized that rather than deregulation – which implies transformation to no or little regulation – we were implementing but a different form of regulation.

Talking Texas Markets, Part 2

Thought, Legislative and Regulatory Certainty

Interviews with Pat Wood, Former FERC and Texas PUC Chair; Kenny Mercado, SVP, CenterPoint; Jim Steffes, EVP, Direct Energy; and Ken Medlock, Senior Director, Center for Energy Studies, Rice University.

'Markets' Test

We Called Them 'Markets.' Now We're Testing Them.

We're enamored of free markets, particularly in the nineties. But power markets cannot come close to emulating authentic competition. Why? They cannot satisfy the basic conditions of competition taught in microeconomics 101.

Texas Solar Two Step

Different Outcomes in State’s Two Distinct Markets

Texas highlights the importance of market structures and economics in the growth of solar deployment. Driven by customer interest and policy objectives, distributed and utility-scale solar has thrived in municipal and cooperative service territories. The same has not been true in the competitive wholesale market with retail choice.