The Tom Kuhn Model
Steve Mitnick has authored four books on the economics, history, and people of the utilities industries. While in the consulting practice leadership of McKinsey & Co. and Marsh & McLennan, he advised utility leaders. He led a transmission development company and was a New York Governor’s chief energy advisor. Mitnick was an expert witness appearing before utility regulatory commissions of six states, D.C., FERC, and in Canada, and taught microeconomics, macroeconomics, and statistics at Georgetown University.
Don't know about other industries. But in ours, the industry of North American utilities, we're loaded with associations.
There are associations for the different kinds of utilities. One breakdown is by the type of utility service they provide. There are utilities that provide electric service. They have several associations. And there are those that provide natural gas service and those that provide water service. Gas and water utilities have multiple associations too, to belong to.
There is even overlap.
Which makes the learning curve for newcomers to our industry even steeper. For some utilities provide electric service to their customers and natural gas service to those same customers, or some of them, and commonly other customers.
As there are associations for the different kinds of utilities by the type of utility service they provide, there are associations based upon who owns them. One such association is for utilities owned by private investors. One association is for utilities owned by federal or state governments or creations of them.
Actually, there can be two of them, in the case of government-owned electric utilities. One association is for all of them. And one association is for the largest of them. Are you keeping up with me? We still have a way to go.