Fed`s new regulatory role in emerging power markets
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
Efforts to deregulate the electric utility industry are not exactly operating at the frontier of reform. The natural gas industry has scouted out the territory, and the same regulatory agency that oversaw that transition will be establishing a few boundaries for the electric utility industry as well. The agency in charge is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), says Elizabeth A. Moler, chair of the FERC in Washington, D.C. The electric power industry, she adds, already is responding positively to the new competitive environment. For example, {open_quotes}state regulators are taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by FERC`s new regulations to provide choice to customers at the retail level,{close_quotes} Moler says. However, potential abuses on the new open market include price fixing and other unfair practices. {open_quotes}A utility that controls all of the generation within a large geographic area may yet control prices. Regulators at the federal and state levels must guard against these problems,{close_quotes} Moler says. In the new world of deregulation, old anti-trust laws may be invoked to ensure that monopolies do not unfarily limit competition.
- OSTI ID:
- 530482
- Journal Information:
- Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, Journal Name: Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 12; ISSN FARPEL; ISSN 0887-8218
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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