CEO Roundtable: Debating The Boucher Bill
Utilities consider imposing a retail surcharge to fund clean-tech R&D.
Utility CEOs debate the merits of a retail surcharge to fund clean-tech R&D.
Regulation & Policy
Boucher's Gambit
A “clean” bill on carbon tech won’t stay clean for long.
An interesting development in the climate change debate occurred this summer in the U.S. Congress. It wasn’t the Senate’s work on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act; that was a complete palaver and an embarrassment for American democracy. No, it was a bill quietly introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), chairman of the House Energy & Air Quality Subcommittee.
Regulators Forum: Restructuring Rollback
State-policy turmoil reshapes utility markets.
As many states move toward re-regulation, we speak to commissioners in Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia to learn how policies are evolving—and how far the regulatory shakeup will go
Creating the Perfect Regulator
Regulatory complexities call for supernatural skills
A regulator’s “goodness” is defined by four fundamental traits: Omniscience; Solomonic Wisdom; Clairvoyance; and Righteousness.
The Best Little Nodal Market in Texas
Sweating the details for 2009.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) introduced wholesale market competition in 1996, following the organizational change of ERCOT from a pure reliability council to an independent system operator (ISO) the same year. This makes ERCOT one of the earliest adopters of competitive electric markets. Stakeholders and regulators in ERCOT are trying to work out the details of implementing this market.
The Mobile-Sierra Doctrine: A Return to Its Statutory Roots
The 9th Circuit’s Snohomish and PUC decisions rationalize what has been a confusing, conflicted area of law.
The 9th Circuit Court’s Snohomish and PUC decisions seek to rationalize what has been a confusing, conflicted area of law.
Electricity in Europe And North America: The Grand Experiment
Has restructuring succeeded on either continent?
The era of polemics about electric competition is nearly over. It’s time to compare the relative performance of competition and traditional regulation as these two established models operate side-by-side.
Global Regulation: Exporting 'America' to the World
Why U.S. public utility commission-style ratemaking has becomes a hit overseas.
What are some approaches to regulation adopted in recent decades by national governments, and the implications for management making international investment decisions?
Duke-ing It Out at the High Court: The End of New Source Review?
To what extent can the EPA force utilities to update aging fleets with expensive pollution-control technology?
The U.S. Supreme Court soon will issue a potentially far-reaching decision in a case involving Duke Energy Corp. What’s the upside for the electric industry?
Why You Should Care About CAIR
New provisions nearly eliminate the financial impacts of the rule’s ozone regulations.
As of 2009, annual caps on NOx emissions imposed by the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) nearly will eliminate the financial impacts of CAIR’s ozone provisions. What does this mean for your utility?