Market-Driven Reforms
Ted Thomas is former Chair of the Arkansas Public Service Commission.
“It’s the world’s largest machine and the twentieth century’s greatest engineering achievement and we are remarkably oblivious to it.” Dr. Gretchen Bakke’s observation about the United States’ electric grid is testament to the power of American innovation and its importance to modern life.
The United States’ Eastern interconnection is the largest machine in the world, made of all the generators, transmission and distribution lines east of the continental divide, except for the ERCOT area of Texas. The components of this machine are owned by numerous entities and individuals, yet they are all interconnected according to specifications developed by engineers. Our standard of living is dependent on the proper functioning of this machine.