“Veering from this original intent of regulation — driven by overreaching politics — risks regulators’ ability to achieve their core objective of protecting consumers…. Unfulfilling these core obligations constitutes what I and others consider regulatory failure that raises doubts on the social desirability of public utility regulation.”
“… subsidies — often the result of increased politicization — can be unfair to funding parties (namely, ratepayers), economically inefficient, and unfair to competing energy sources. One common bizarre practice is for electric utilities to subsidize their customers to use less of their service via energy efficiency initiatives….”
Public utility regulation falls within the lexicon economic regulation with its main objective to protect consumers from the monopoly power of a utility. The presumption is that public utilities provide essential services that require strong service obligations and price controls.…
“This warming [of 5 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit this century] is as certain as death and taxes.” (Professor Andrew Dessler, below)
Andrew Dessler is one of the leading climate scientists/alarmists of his generation. And he is a master at presenting his case, not unlike a highly skilled lawyer. He knows the answers–and counter-arguments are just noise.
His textbook, Introduction to Modern Climate Change (2nd edition: 2016), does not seriously engage a range of opinions in its 250 pages. A review of the text/index confirms that many key controversies and open questions are either downplayed or absent, thereby creating–in his world–settled alarmist science.
I will later write an in-depth review of this textbook, which not only covers physical science but also related issues in political economy, energy economics, and history.…
“The US’s electric bill could be halved through energy-efficiency measures and renewables that would mostly pay for themselves in a year. That’s not a free lunch. It’s a lunch you’re paid to eat.”
“There’s no reason that energy policy need be a multiple-choice test asking: Would you prefer to die from a) climate change, b) oil wars, or c) a nuclear holocaust? I choose d) none of the above.”
“I’m not an environmentalist. I’m a cultural repairman. It’s all about efficient and restorative use of resources to make the world secure, prosperous and life-sustaining.”
– Amory Lovins, quoted in Lucy Siegle, “This Much I Know: Amory Lovins,” The Guardian, March 23, 2008.
Eleven years ago, Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute was interviewed by The Guardian on his energy views, first formulated in Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?…