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Conceptual issues raised by the PECO/Enron dispute

Journal Article · · Electricity Journal
 [1]
  1. George Washington Univ., Washington, DC (United States)
Enron`s alternative plan for competition in Pennsylvania served notice on the incumbent utility and perceptive regulators that proposals too favorable to incumbents can and will be exposed--potentially with great benefits for consumers and competitors of the incumbent, and to the incumbent`s disadvantage. The author describes the PECO plan, the Enron plan, and the PUC order. The author concludes that Enron`s approach does not fit neatly in either of those conceptual boxes. According to the author it is a better fit in the literature of law and political science than in the literature of economics. The most accurate conceptual characterization of Enron`s approach is as a litigation tactic. It illustrates a method through which a party to a complicated, highly political regulatory proceeding can borrow concepts from economics to transform the political and legal environment in which the dispute is being resolved by exposing the features of a proposed settlement that favor the utility and inhibit competition. As the PECO-Enron story illustrates, such a transformation can be outcome-determinative.
OSTI ID:
290016
Journal Information:
Electricity Journal, Journal Name: Electricity Journal Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 11; ISSN ELEJE4; ISSN 1040-6190
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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