Electric Choices

Deregulation and the Future of Electric Power, Edited by Andrew N. Kleit, Foreword by Pat Wood III. In the late 1970s, the regulatory landscape in the United States began to change significantly as competition and deregulation were introduced to telecommunications, airlines, trucking, natural gas and oil transportation, financial services, and other industries—with impressive results. Competition increased, the pace of innovation accelerated, prices fell, and the reforms were viewed as successful. Economic restructuring and liberalization eventually came to the electric power industry but in a more piecemeal fashion. The results have prompted a host of questions from policymakers and the public: What lessons can be learned about the successes and failures of past restructurings? How much regulation does the electric industry need? Are coordination and distribution best handled public or privately? If the latter, would for-profit or non-profit organizations better serve consumers? In Electric Choices: Deregulation and the Future of Electric Power, edited by Andrew N. Kleit (Pennsylvania State University), fifteen leading experts addresses these and other key issues that will determine whether electricity will become cheaper and more reliable, or more expensive and prone to blackouts....