The origins of political electricity: Market failure or political opportunism?

Journal Article · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Energy Law Journal

OSTI ID:441572

Bradley, Jr, R L ^[1]

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1. Institute for Energy Research, Houston, TX (United States)

The current debate over restructuring the electric industry, which includes such issues as displacing the regulatory covenant, repealing the Public Utility Holding Company Act, and privatizing municipal power systems, the Rural Utilities Service (formerly Rural Electrification Administration), and federally owned power systems, makes a look back at the origins of political electricity relevant. The thesis of this essay, that government intervention into electric markets was not the result of market failures but, rather, represented business and political opportunism, suggests that the intellectual and empirical case for market-oriented reform is even stronger than would otherwise be the case. A major theme of applied political economy is the dynamics of government intervention in the marketplace. Because interventions are often related, an analytical distinction can be made between basis point and cumulative intervention. Basis point regulation, taxation, or subsidizaion is the opening government intervention into a market setting; cumulative intervention is further regulation, taxation, or subsidization that is attributable to the effects of prior (basis point or cumulative) intervention. The origins and maturation of political electricity, as will be seen, are interpretable through this theoretical framework.

• OSTI ID: 441572
• Journal Information: Energy Law Journal, Journal Name: Energy Law Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 17; ISSN 0270-9163; ISSN ELJOEA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
COMPETITION
DEREGULATION
ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY
POLITICAL ASPECTS