Competition in Electric Power—What Does the Record Say?
About 25 years ago the electric power industry was deep into debates over competition and monopoly. For most of the last century, nearly everyone agreed that monopoly was not only natural but even desirable in electric power as long as regulators ensured that the benefits of monopoly were shared with consumers.

Toward the end of the century, the conventional view was under challenge—rates were rising, the industry had seen a few major blackouts and technological growth stalled. Dissatisfaction with the regulated electric power industry was intensified by the apparent success of deregulatory …

When leaders from across our industry gathered recently for the Energy Workforce of the Future Summit, we agreed on the biggest task facing us: building the workforce to power the energy transition. This isn’t just the most important challenge in our sector, it’s one of the most important challenges in the country and across much of the world.

More than ever, society needs us to build a bridge to a new low-carbon era, filled with all forms of energy through top quality, rewarding, well-paying jobs. Now, those who have long been left out of the industry want to finally …

There is an increasing disconnect between the sort of climate objectives that are advocated for politically (1.5 degrees Celsius, net-zero emissions by 2050, etc.) and the feasibility of achieving a massive global clean energy transition within the ever-shrinking carbon budget. This widening gap is reflected in seminal “transition scenarios” like the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Net-Zero Emissions Report, or the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) 1.5 Pathway report attempting to lay out a roadmap to these hoped-for climate objectives. The kicker is that these studies can’t make the math work without leaning heavily on huge amounts of carbon capture …

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) invests $369 billion in climate and energy security, including tax credits for clean energy generation. Despite the hefty price tag, it does little to fix how we build the energy infrastructure needed to bring generated power to consumers. The IRA and 2021’s bipartisan infrastructure law combined constitute just a fraction of the policy changes we need for a clean energy economy. Lack of necessary transmission is already a bottleneck in bringing more clean energy online and has catastrophic consequences in extreme weather. Without more interstate transmission, decarbonization will be slower and more expensive. We must …

Once again, the Atlantic hurricane season has demonstrated the impacts of climate change. Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida as a category 4 storm in late September. It rapidly intensified to a “500-year flood event,” per Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, leveling communities, leaving millions without power, killing an untold number of people, and likely leaving behind billions of dollars in property damage. This follows a year of droughts, wildfires, and unrelenting heat. Clearly, the climate crisis is here.

But we have answers to that crisis if we are willing to use them.

Governments at all levels are already working towards …