Electricity Restructuring in the United States Markets and Policy from the 1978 Energy Act to the Present

The electric utility industry in the US is technologically complex, and its structure as a classic network industry makes it intricate in business terms as well, so deregulation of such a complicated industry was a particularly detailed process. Steve Isser provides a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the history of the transformation of this complex industry from the 1978 Energy Policy Act to the present, covering the economic, legal, regulatory, and political issues and controversies in the transition from regulated utilities to competitive electricity markets. The book is a multidisciplinary study that includes a comprehensive review of the economic literature on electricity markets, the political environment of electricity policymaking, administrative and regulatory rulemaking, and the federal case law that restrained state and federal regulation of electricity. Isser offers a valuable case study of the pitfalls and problems associated with the deregulation of a complex network industry.

Introduction; 1. The regulated electricity industry; 2. The EPA steps in; 3. The rise and fall of demand side management; 4. Congress acts, investors react; 5. The economists are coming, the economists are coming; 6. The Energy Policy Act of 1992; 7. Jump into the power pool; 8. What hath FERC wrought?; 9. Reorganization on the eve of deregulation; 10. The emergence of independent power producers; 11. The politics of electricity deregulation; 12. The creation of wholesale electricity markets; 13. Pushing markets – order 2000; 14. Great expectations; 15. Darkness, darkness; 16. California and market power; 17. FERC and market power in California; 18. Two steps forward, one step back; 19. The FERC cracks the whip; 20. The Energy Policy Act of 2005; 21. Wired; 22. Playing the piper; 23. Leave the lights on; 24. How much is too much?; 25. From small things big things one day come; 26. Blinded by the light; Conclusion.

Steve Isser is President at Energy Law and Economics, Inc. His work has been published in Mathematical Modeling, the Review of Policy Research, and Public Utility Fortnightly, as well as two books on oil economics and politics.