NEES restructuring could pave the way to more competition; Steve Mitnick responds

• Published in: The Electricity journal 1995-03, Vol.8 (2), p.82
• Main Authors: Rowe, John W, Foy, Douglas, Moskovitz, David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 21st century; Air cleanliness; Capital investments; Cost control; Cost recovery; Electric industries; Electric utilities; Energy efficiency; Environmental regulations; Industrial plant emissions; Market prices; Proposals; Regulation; Regulatory reform; Renewable resources; Stockholders
• ISSN: 1040-6190; 1873-6874

A response to Steven A. Mitnick's (1995) article This Industry Restructuring Dog Just Won't Hunt is presented. Mitnick refers to a proposed plan to restructure electric utilities set forth in the article Looking for Peace in the Middle of Nervous Breakdown by David Moskovitz and Douglas Foy (1994). It is argued that the purpose of the grand bargain is to create a 21st century industry structure and set of regulatory rules that dramatically improve upon the status quo. Current industry and regulatory institutions are delivering reliability and power plant decisions that reflect the relative environmental, economic, and risk characteristics of different resource options. The goal is to reduce both the environmental and economic costs of electricity production and use, rather than trade one off against the other. While these principles are widely accepted in New England, most states implement them in the context of litigated and often very protracted administrative proceedings. Mitnick provides a response and discusses the proposal for the New England Electric System.