Owen Young had a “hazy plan in mind” to put together a central information source on utility regulatory cases and decisions.
In 1932, in the depths of the great depression, Owen Young was considered by many to be the favorite to be elected the nation's next president. The chairman of General Electric, GE, and the Radio Corporation of America, RCA, was famous and admired for his many accomplishments in business and public service.
In a joint speech before the San Francisco convention of the National Electric Light Association (the Edison Electric Institute of that time), Young spoke from San Francisco. Thomas Edison spoke from New Jersey. Guglielmo Marconi, radio's inventor, spoke from London. The convention's president spoke from Berlin. It was an unprecedented spectacular broadcast around the world.
But back in 1912, Young was just general counsel of GE. Young had his hands full. Including antitrust litigation, as GE and electricity companies generally grew rapidly.
He was hopscotching at one point between Albany, Schenectady and Buffalo to meet with regulators about subsidiaries Schenectady Illuminating Company and Buffalo General Electric. And back and forth to Washington to meet with lawmakers about tariffs on GE's lucrative light bulb business.
The regulatory issues in upstate New York? Capital structure. Asset valuation. Sound familiar?
Young was increasingly concerned, along with many utility and regulatory leaders at the time, that utility regulation was becoming too complex. A confused financial community was becoming reluctant to invest in an industry that had so little transparency. And a suspicious public suspected the worst.
It was now common for utilities to cross state or sub-state regulatory jurisdictions. This subjected them to multiple and very different approaches to regulation.
Young worked with the National Civic Federation in 1913 to address this pressing problem, and recruited his college classmate Clifford Spurr to help. They submitted a model utility bill to the U.S. Congress that spring. But Congress didn't act. Again, sound familiar?
What was plan B given the gridlock in Washington? Young had a "hazy plan in mind" to put together a central information source on utility regulatory cases and decisions.
Samuel Insull, often considered the father of utility regulation, backed the idea financially as did others. By the end of 1914, there was sufficient funding. And regulators were enthusiastically sending in case materials and orders.
The first volume of Public Utilities Reports, Annotated was published in early 1915. Spurr took over as the first editor of our company.
Utility regulators considered this a major advance. They could follow the trends in utility regulation and policy and learn from each other. The biography "Owen D. Young and American Enterprise" cites letters by the New York Public Service Commission, Massachusetts Gas and Electric Light Commission, and Interstate Commerce Commission.
We continue this rate case summary service to this day, 101 years later.
In 1929, Public Utilities Reports launched a magazine on utility regulation and policy, Public Utilities Fortnightly. Its first editor, my first predecessor, was also Spurr.
From Spurr to Mitnick, Public Utilities Fortnightly has served as the magazine of record for commentary, opinion and debate on utility regulation and policy for the last 87 years.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
