“Catastrophic failure with wind turbines is not new, and it’s not rare…. Recent experience shows that not much has changed in the ensuing years.”
“Those of us who follow the wind debate closely have repeatedly witnessed cases where projects were permitted despite an obvious lack of meaningful evidence on a host of topics…. The recent Maryland [Dan’s Mountain } decision provides an important precedent that other states can and should now follow.
[Editor Note: A new feature at MasterResource will periodically review important wind-related news in the US and around the world. For proponents of fuel-neutral, let-the-market-decide energy policy, as well as those opposing industrial wind turbines for environmental reasons, the news is increasingly positive. It should be highlighted and shared to motivate grassroots energy activists. MasterResource is indebted to Lisa Linowes for authoring this new series.]…
Continue Reading“We are accustomed to seeing news coverage of tearful hurricane victims praising the heroic utility workers who restore their electrical service. Not so heroic is the way the utility accountants are booking that expense in a way that gives huge future streams of profits to the poor storm-victim utility.”
Over the years, the procedures for state-level utility rate cases have evolved into a pretty standard set of formulas and estimating methods.
Most states use a future “test year” where the utility estimates its revenue and costs for an upcoming period. Naturally, the utility will low-ball the projected revenue to justify asking for a higher level of revenue through rates approved by the regulators. Costs in the model year will be overstated as much as the utility thinks they can get away with.…
Continue Reading“[William] Baumol was worried, however, by a very different sort of entrepreneur: the ‘unproductive’ ones, who exploit special relationships with the government to construct regulatory moats, secure public spending for their own benefit, or bend specific rules to their will, in the process stifling competition to create advantage for their firms. Economists call this rent-seeking behavior.”
– Robert Litan and Ian Hathaway. “Is America Encouraging the Wrong Kind of Entrepreneurship?” Harvard Business Review, June 13, 2017.
MasterResource covers business entrepreneurship, not only the in’s and out’s of energy history and energy policy.
Good entrepreneurship is about serving consumers in a private property, voluntary exchange, rule-of-law setting. Bad entrepreneurship is about a business receiving special government favor to advantage itself at the expense of consumers and (free market) competitors.…
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