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US: Did the New England snowstorm show healthy competition in deregulated electricity market?

By  |  February 12, 2013

The Compete Coalition, an alliance of electricity-market shareholders, wants to use the recent snowstorm that hammered the northeastern US last weekend to disprove suspicions of weakened or crooked competition in a deregulated electricity market. William Massey, who now serves as counsel to the Compete Coalition but is a former commissioner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, spoke on behalf of the group to commend a “clear track record” of the industry with an open market. The key to fair competition, says the Coalition, is regional transmission organizations (RTOs) that oversee the supply chain’s efficiencies, though the Coalition notes it considered regulation to be stronger now than when the deregulation process first began. Reports have considered to recent snowstorm in New England to be proof that the market has healthy competition, as electricity prices climbed by only 5 percent just before the storm began, a “reasonable” increase considering anticipated demand. Reports, however, look to the banking sector as proof that the deregulation of major industries can lead to corrupt and consumer-harming business practices.

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