Nov. 16, 2016: This week it’s been the center of the universe. No, not Trump Tower. La Quinta of course, California’s host town for the NARUC Annual Meeting.
NARUC’s Winter Meeting in February and Summer Meeting in July are enormous gatherings of utility regulators and their fandom. But the Annual Meeting each November is the epic festival of regulation’s rock stars.
Look to your left. Some of his many fans, like me, think of him as The King. Some just call him Commissioner Travis. Everyone knows who you mean, our often funny and always thought-provoking emcee for the last year.
Here in La Quinta, he’s graciously handing off to Commissioner Powelson, in the traditional peaceful transfer of power. There he is, if you look to your right. He’ll be emcee through next November.
NARUC was founded in the late nineteenth century amid a crisis in railroad regulation. Though there were federal regulators for one of the most essential utilities of the day, state governments increasingly wanted to exert additional control over railroad companies. The public in many states demanded it.
The state regulatory commission was born. This resolved the problem, but only partially.
There was the federal government’s Interstate Commerce Commission. The ICC pushed back against state commissions, in what became the first of our many federal-state jurisdictional battles.
Then there were the railroad companies. They were typically multi-state corporations, with extensive operations beyond the borders of any one commission’s state.
It was a daunting and lonely task for a commission. Engaging the ICC and the railroad companies in a multi-front war without allies.
Commissioners didn’t even have Public Utilities Reports or Public Utilities Fortnightly as of yet for their bedtime reading. Our two flagship publications weren’t distributed until 1914 and 1928 respectively.
Hence the invention of a national association of regulatory commissioners, NARUC, and an annual meeting of commissioners. The goal was to learn from everyone’s experiences. And in some instances, form common cause.
As the nineteenth century came to an end and the twentieth began, NARUC decided to hold annual meetings in different cities around the country. This was a break from past practices, when the annual meetings were held at the ICC or elsewhere in Washington, DC.
NARUC also decided to make it more of an association of state regulatory commissioners. This was a second break from the past practices, when federal regulators were the first among equals.
In 1907, utility president Samuel Insull successfully jump-started the notion that states should regulate electric utilities. That year, and in the next few, Wisconsin, New York and other states in quick succession expanded the scope of their railroad commissions.
Eventually, the R in NARUC would stand for regulatory instead of railway. And state commissions were renamed to recognize their more generalized control over electric, gas, telecom, water and other public utilities. This renaming continued into the 1970’s.
There’s so much to do and see at a NARUC meeting. They’re really built around committees. That room over there is the electricity committee. Past that is the gas committee. Around the corner is the energy resources and environment committee.
It’s a tough choice. Many of us bounce around, from one to another, to catch the best jam sessions of each.
At least at Woodstock, there was a single stage. So you wouldn’t miss any of the greats.
Congrats NARUC for putting on another memorable conference! One question. How come you don’t sell t-shirts for the tour? From your friends at Public Utilities Fortnightly.
