The Electric Deregulation Fiasco: Looking to Regulatory Federalism to Promote a Balance Between Markets and the Provision of Public Goods

Abstract

The Essay uses three recent books - two by a historians and one by an economist - to address the electric power deregulation fiasco in the U.S. It argues that public law has an important role to play in deregulated markets. At least in part, the essay argues, public law is to blame for the failure of deregulation in California. At the same time, the Essay suggests, without clarification of jurisdictional responsibility and incentives in public law, adoption of effective competitive market reforms to the electric power industries will not succeed in the future.