The Old Drawing Board

Deck: 

Portfolio planning in the age of gas.

Fortnightly Magazine - November 2012
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One of the hardest jobs in the world is the state utility commissioner’s.

In one of my first Frontlines columns as Fortnightly’s editor, I focused on the regulator’s job (“Creating the Perfect Regulator,” November 2007). I proposed that the defining characteristics of the perfect regulator included omniscience, Solomonic wisdom, clairvoyance, and absolute righteousness.

Of course no mortal possesses those characteristics. No regulator can fully comprehend every single nuance shaping the future of electric and gas utility services, much less plan for every eventuality. But in some sense, PUCs in many states are expected to do just that—not alone, of course, but in collaboration with utilities, legislators, and stakeholder groups.

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