The electric utility industry in the US is technologically complex, and its structure as a classic network industry makes it intricate in business terms as well, so deregulation of such a complicated industry was a particularly detailed process. Steve Isser provides a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the history of the transformation of this complex industry from the 1978 Energy Policy Act to the present, covering the economic, legal, regulatory, and political issues and controversies in the transition from regulated utilities to competitive electricity markets. The book is a multidisciplinary study that includes a comprehensive review of the economic literature on electricity markets, the political environment of electricity policymaking, administrative and regulatory rulemaking, and the federal case law that restrained state and federal regulation of electricity. Isser offers a valuable case study of the pitfalls and problems associated with the deregulation of a complex network industry.

This book is a generalist history of electricity policy from the 1978 Energy Policy Act to the present.

Introduction 1. The regulated electricity industry 2. The EPA steps in 3. The rise and fall of demand side management 4. Congress acts, investors react 5. The economists are coming, the economists are coming 6. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 7. Jump into the power pool 8. What hath FERC wrought? 9. Reorganization on the eve of deregulation 10. The emergence of independent power producers 11. The politics of electricity deregulation 12. The creation of wholesale electricity markets 13. Pushing markets – order 2000 14. Great expectations 15. Darkness, darkness 16. California and market power 17. FERC and market power in California 18. Two steps forward, one step back 19. The FERC cracks the whip 20. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 21. Wired 22. Playing the piper 23. Leave the lights on 24. How much is too much? 25. From small things big things one day come 26. Blinded by the light Conclusion