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Full-Text Articles in Law
Rethinking Reform Of Electricity Markets, Joseph P. Tomain
Rethinking Reform Of Electricity Markets, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
Rethinking Reform starts with a thought experiment about the complete deregulation of electricity markets. The article goes on to discuss how the traditional model of utility regulation has served its useful purpose and must be replaced. The two recommendations made in the article include the use of marginal cost pricing and an array of smart energy technologies to create a better and more efficient energy policy.
The Environmental Responsibility Of The Regionalizing Electric Utility Industry, Joel B. Eisen
The Environmental Responsibility Of The Regionalizing Electric Utility Industry, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
In this Article, I will address environmental issues in the context of our rapidly evolving understanding of "restructuring." The market for electricity is fast becoming a series of regional marketplaces for wholesale transactions, operating on bid-based systems that move power at the lowest cost. There are plenty of states where power is still delivered as it has been for decades: by "bundled" service provided by vertically integrated utilities. However, the trend is toward regionalization, where independent entities control the transmission grid and play a major role in determining how power is delivered. These market participants, confusingly, have been known by …
The Blackout Of 2003: What Is Next?, Joel B. Eisen
The Blackout Of 2003: What Is Next?, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
The blackout of August 2003 was a massive dislocation of American life, with millions of people in eight states and Canada losing power and a cost estimated in billions of dollars. As many as fifty million people were affected by the blackout. While the ultimate cause of the blackout is still being investigated, the implications for national policy may not be fully known for decades. The blackout was a wake up call and a watershed event that calls for reevaluation of just about every facet of the electric utility industry. We tend to think of a "wakeup call" as something …
From Insull To Enron: Corporate (Re)Regulation After The Rise And Fall Of Two Energy Icons, William D. Henderson, Richard D. Cudahy
From Insull To Enron: Corporate (Re)Regulation After The Rise And Fall Of Two Energy Icons, William D. Henderson, Richard D. Cudahy
Articles by Maurer Faculty
For most Americans, the collapse of the Enron Corporation is without doubt the most memorable corporate event of their generation. Remarkably, few people are aware that the New Deal regulatory framework - which Congress recently reformed and toughened to in response to the Enron debacle - was itself erected in the wake of a strikingly similar corporate crash. In late 1931 and early 1932, the country looked on in horror as Samuel Insull's mighty and seemingly invulnerable electric utility holding company empire collapsed without warning, wiping out the holdings of over 1 million investors, most of whom believed that they …
Realizing The Promise Of Restructuring The Electricity Market, Richard J. Pierce Jr
Realizing The Promise Of Restructuring The Electricity Market, Richard J. Pierce Jr
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In this contribution to a symposium on restructuring the U.S. electricity market, I summarize the peaks and valleys that have characterized the restructuring process over the past two decades. I begin by describing the reasons why I joined with a group of other academics twenty years ago in an effort to restructure the U.S electricity market. The market was characterized by large, well-documented structural and operational maladies; it had performed poorly for over a decade; its basic characteristics were consistent with increased reliance on market forces as an effective governance mechanism; and, our recent success in restructuring analogous markets provided …