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 modern regulatory capture—that raise questions on whether and how the forms and institutions of regulation can adapt to the most pressing demands of our time. This course is offered as an elective.
Alternating Mon. & Weds: 9-11:50 a.m.