Stranded investment is mostly intrastate.
Let the states work free of uncertainty.
Recent activity in both chambers of the U. S. Congress shows federal lawmakers seeking to help the electric industry move toward competition. More than likely, election-year politics will stand in the way. Even so, Congress can go one better: It can step aside and let the states lead the way.
The greatest concern lies in stranded costs (em utility assets and obligations valued on company books at above-market levels.
Regulators feel a responsibility to compensate utilities for the cost of actions once found prudent or taken at the regulators' own behest. In fact, the public officials who have taken a stand on stranded costs have all called for substantial recovery, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), Republican Michigan Gov. John Engler, the Democratic leadership of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and most recently, the Ohio Public Utilities Commission, in two decisions issued April 11 affecting Centerior Energy. Importantly, no policymaker has gone on record to say that utilities should bear the brunt of costs in the transition to competition.