As FERC moves forward, most state legislators have remained content to sit back and wait for others to act. Part of this reticence stems from politics—the difficulty of changing course, invading someone else's turf, or tackling a new subject outside one's area of expertise. Legislators view problems differently than do regulators.
Thomas Sloan is president of Sloan & Associates Communication Consultants. Formerly, he was executive director of corporate communications, government relations, and economic development for Western Resources, Inc. Mr. Sloan is a member of the Kansas House of Representatives and serves on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
With the start of the 1996 legislative year at least 30 states were studying some aspect of electric competition. These studies have spanned a wide range of activities: from a simple generic docket opened by a regulatory agency, to actual pilot programs involving certain customers, or the creation of new market structures, such as a competitive power pool.
Most discussions have focused on pricing, stranded investment, and easing restrictions against market entry. However, many other issues must be addressed before policymakers can hope to achieve an equitable result for all customers, regardless of size or geography. In fact, experience (drawn from telecommunications and natural gas) teaches us that residential and small commercial customers often lag behind other customer classes in achieving benefits from competition or gaining access to rates that reflect the true cost of service.
As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has moved forward, most state legislators have remained content to sit back and wait for others to act. Part of this reticence stems from politics—the difficulty of changing course, invading someone else's turf, or tackling a new subject outside one's area of expertise. Legislators view problems differently than do regulators.