California's plunge into utility competition

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Fortnightly; (United States)

OSTI ID:6839622

Studness, C M

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued an order on April 20 proposing radical reform of the state's utility regulation. Specifically, the order would replace traditional cost-of-service regulation with competition and performance-based regulation. The new framework essentially extends to the retail power market the competitive structure the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) created for the wholesale power market. The CPUC's proposal is the first comprehensive attempt to confront all of the implications of competition at the state level. As such, it redefines some issues and raises new ones. For instance, retail wheeling simply becomes a means to a necessary end, while the question of whether utilities can remain vertically integrated comes to the fore as a critical and thorny issue. Any state addressing competition will henceforth have to look at what California has done. It is difficult to see how any future development at the state level could be more important. This is a watershed event.

• OSTI ID: 6839622
• Journal Information: Fortnightly; (United States), Journal Name: Fortnightly; (United States) Vol. 132:13; ISSN FRTNE8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
296000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Electric Power
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320603 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Municipalities & Community Systems-- Public Utilities-- (1980-)
CALIFORNIA
COMPETITION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
NORTH AMERICA
PRICING REGULATIONS
PUBLIC UTILITIES
REGULATIONS
USA