Would anyone invent public power today? Can anyone reinvent it?
- California State Univ., Fullerton, CA (United States)
Public power will soon have no choice but to compete in markets where losers are bankrupted. It could once justify itself on grounds that one franchise competitor was better than none, but soon the market will be open to any seller that investors are willing to fund. What role then remains for it? Deregulation is already orienting the private sector toward aggressive competition for customers. The nature of corporate organization will drive the change in private supply, but the nature of government will make any such change harder for public power, if it is even possible. If public power cannot adapt, both its underlying rationale and its survival are in question. If public power did not already exist, would there be any reason to invent it today? The author provides a thumbnail history of the competitive relationships of public and private power. For the past 50 years the two systems have coexisted in a stasis that has survived upheavals in economics, technology, and the industry`s legal environment. The stasis itself is evidence of the constraints that regulation placed on competition. The author also examines the comparative economics of corporate and governmental institutions in order to determine the prospects for private and public power in markets dominated by competition for customers. The article ends with a critical look at strategies that public power systems are adopting to cope with the new competition.
- OSTI ID:
- 569402
- Journal Information:
- Electricity Journal, Vol. 10, Issue 9; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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