Utilities and Electricity Markets: Regulation in the United States

Many services today considered public conveniences are provided by private companies in the United States, subject to extensive governmental regulation. This course provides an overview of that regulation, and is divided into three parts: 1) the institutions and basic practices of state utility commissions and their federal counterpart; 2) the regulatory evolution that has attended the emergence of competition in the industry, at least in certain places, from open access and interconnection to grids once owned by local monopolies, to auction-based markets for energy, to the de-monopolization of the customers’ relationship with their energy supplier; 3) recent issues—including decarbonization, threats to electric reliability, the advent of customer-side energy resources, and corruption scandals—that raise questions on whether and how the forms and institutions of regulation can adapt to the most pressing demands of our time.

Students can expect to emerge from the course with a working knowledge of utility regulation as it pertains to electricity, which is also broadly applicable to natural-gas and water utilities, as well as a familiarity with Regional Transmission Organizations. Along the way, students will hear first-hand from practitioners and experts as guest lecturers.