Regulators are starting to show signs of strain over the restructuring debate.
Up to now, many in the industry thought everybody but the regulators had tired of the constant back-and-forth over regional market issues such as standard market design. This is not to say that state regulators have been able to find any common resolution. In fact, in our annual Regulators Forum on page 22, PUC chiefs from five states continue to disagree on what role the federal government should have. In fact, one state commissioner, testifying before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in late September on PJM and Midwest ISO issues, worried that the industry infighting might never end.
Alan Schriber, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, said: "The overwhelming message that comes through in this proceeding is that this stuff can go on and on, a classic clash between public policy and private interests … a clash within each one of those categories. There are public policy-makers that are clashing over what needs to be done as well, as we have heard, with the private interests. As an economist, I think this way, that everybody... pursues what's in their best interests.