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Utility Regulation 
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- Stateline Story
Proposals Would Shift Utility Infrastructure Costs to Ratepayers
Electricity and gas bills could creep higher in several states, as lawmakers consider whether to allow utilities to charge customers upfront for upgrades to aging infrastructure. more
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Northeastern States To Drastically Cut Emissions Cap
Nine Northeastern states will drastically cut the region’s carbon cap under proposed changes to the region’s cap-and- trade program, they announced Thursday. more
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States Grant Utilities Extra Rate Increases
Utilities say they need additional revenue to modernize their aging infrastructure. Many states are responding by allowing them to charge higher rates. more
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On the Ballot (And in the Constitution?): Michigan’s Energy Future
Renewable energy advocates will be looking to Michigan on Tuesday (November 6), hoping its voters validate a bold experiment in growing the state’s renewable energy portfolio: If at first you’re stymied at the statehouse, just but it on the ballot — and in the constitution. more
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In New Hampshire, No Veto on Cap-and-Trade Compromise
Under a new law, New Hampshire will leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, but only if other states do first. Governor John Lynch, a champion of New England’s cap-and-trade pact, tentatively supported a policy viewed as a compromise. more
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New Hampshire Lawmakers Compromise on Cap-and-Trade
New Hampshire lawmakers this week passed legislation calling for the state to exit New England’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, but only if two other states drop out first. more
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Plan to Lower Florida Water Rates Said to Threaten Conservation
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT BEAT: An effort to reduce utility bills in Florida has run into opposition from environmentalists who say it could hinder the state's efforts to conserve its scarce water supply. more
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Winter Heating Prices Scare States
Sticker shock at the gas pump isn't the only energy problem confronting states after Hurricane Katrina. The fear of a natural gas spike is spurring officials to seek more money to help low-income residents pay for heating this winter, while others are encouraging energy efficiency, and in the case of Connecticut, challenging the way that utilities charge customers.more -
- Stateline Story
States Pull the Plug on Electricity Deregulations
In 1996, California launched a national fad by allowing power utilities to compete for customers within and across its borders. By 2000, 23 states and the District of Columbia had rushed down the path of electricity deregulation. But the fad to open up the electricity market has faltered. Six states now have changed course on deregulation, and legislatures elsewhere are disillusioned as promises of lower prices and a reliable electricity infrastructure have failed to materialize.more -
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Enron Helped Push Electric Deregulation
Enron has been among the most active players in state politics in recent years, lavishing over $1 million on state lawmakers during the 2000 election cycle alone. Its goal in doling out these dollars? Deregulation of electricity markets, experts say. more
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Electricity Deregulation Deadline Nears In Some States
Undeterred by the California power crisis, four states will complete their own electricity deregulation efforts in 2002 as they seek to give customers a greater choice of providers and new industry players a better shot at making money. more
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States Weigh Role on Export of Electricity
Mid-America is fast becoming ground zero for the biggest power plant construction boom since the 1970s. But much of the electricity generated by these new facilities will be exported to other parts of the country, leaving states without any real economic benefits from the plants' construction and with the financial burden of having to monitor their impact on local communities. more
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California Crisis Overshadows Power Plant Building Boom
Citizens throughout the country are finding there's little they can do to stop an unprecedented power plant construction boom as states seek to prevent California-sized electricity problems by building more power plants and private investors move to cash in on fears of power outages. Although precise figures are hard to come by, an estimated 700 plants are under construction or on the drawing boards to be completed by 2007 at a cost of about $140 billion, according to Arlington, Va.-based Energy Ventures Analysis Inc., a leading consultant in the energy field. more
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Western Governors Meet on Electric Deregulation Crisis
A meeting in Portland, Oregon last week could help shape a state policy response to the nation's latest energy headache -- the electric deregulation crisis. Although the crisis is rooted in California's flawed electric deregulation plan, it has other causes as well and it is starting to have adverse economic consequences in several Western states. more
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California's Woes Cast Pall Over Electric Deregulation
Pundits who predicted Y2K would be a nightmare for the computer industry picked the wrong business. Instead, 2000 turned out to be a trying year for the electric power industry as utility deregulation produced a stream of high-profile snafus ranging from price spikes to tax revenue dips to power outages. more
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Utility Deregulation Vexes Californians
If California's lingering power crisis left any doubt about the future of the state's attempts at utility deregulation, state energy officials have dispelled it. "We are voting the epitaph for deregulation in California today. Deregulation is dead," said Public Utilities Commissioner Carl Wood last Thursday, when the board approved a 90-day emergency rate hike to bail out failing utilities. more
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Electric Deregulation's Side-Effects Vex Several States
Electric utility deregulation is supposed to bring about lower power prices by exposing utility monopolies to competition. At least that's what the 24 states that have opted for deregulation anticipated. But it has been more of a pain than panacea for a number of states, producing everything from tax shortfalls to power blackouts to exorbitant rate increases. more
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Electric Restructuring Trend Pauses In Some States
Twenty-four states had embraced electric utility deregulation as of the end of 1999, but the story has been different in 2000. Last week, Iowa's Legislature tabled a bill to open up the sale and production of electricity in the Hawkeye State, and uncertainty in Nevada led Gov. Kenny Guinn to pull the plug on a Mar. 1 implementation deadline. However, in Alabama, big businesses are arguing that deregulation is a concept whose time has come. more
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Electric Deregulation Weakens Reliability, Study Finds
An unintended consequence of electric utility deregulation, embraced by 23 states, has been more power outages and other reliability problems within the nations electricity grid, a new study says. Power companies are to blame for this rise in unreliability, as are the state and federal governments, according to a team of U.S. Department of Energy investigators responsible for the study. more
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