From October 2007 to June 2021, I wrote a series of monthly essays on effective regulation. Each month a new essay was posted on my website and emailed to over 3,000 people across the country and the globe. I often received insightful comments from essay readers, and those comments help to fuel additional ideas and discussion on effective regulation. A collection of the first five years’ essays was published in 2013, in the book entitled Preside or Lead? The Attributes and Actions of Effective Regulators. Also, I am pleased to report that the book was translated into Spanish in 2014. Both versions are available to download for free here.
Actions of Effective Regulators
| The Role of AI and Data Centers in the Electric Industry | August 2025 | |
|---|---|
| The "Public Interest": Who Has a Definition? | September 2017 | Read |
| Assessing Regulatory Performance: Measurements, Actions, Results | August 2015 | Read |
| The San Bruno Explosion: Were the Wrong People Penalized? | June 2015 | Read |
| "Too Big to Fail": A Premise without Support | October 2014 | Read |
| Regulatory Brainstorming: When and Where? | April 2012 | Read |
| Alfred Kahn (1917–2010) | December 2010 | Read |
| Regulatory Literacy: A Seasonal Self-Assessment | November 2010 | Read |
| "Smart Grid" Spending: A Commission’s Pitch-Perfect Response to a Utility’s Seven Errors | June 2010 | Read |
| Regulatory Multitasking: Does It Do Long-Term Damage? | August 2009 | Read |
|
The Regulatory Mission: Do We “Balance” Private Interests, or Do We Align Them With the Public Interest? | November 2008 |
Read |
| Commissions Are Not Courts; Regulators Are Not Judges | January 2008 | Read |
Aspiration and Thanksgiving
| A Regulatory Thanksgiving | December 2020 | |
|---|---|
| A Wish for the New Year: Agreement on the Principles of Regulation | January 2020 | Read |
| Justice Scalia's Electric Industry: Four Thought-Provocations | March 2016 | Read |
| Is Regulatory Conflict Inevitable? A Seasonal Plea for Peace | December 2015 | Read |
| Essential to Effectiveness: Community Acceptance of Regulation's Mission | August 2008 | Read |
Attributes of Effective Regulators
| Certification of Regulatory Professionals: Reader Comments | September 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Regulatory Reactivity Risks Mental Errors | April 2019 | Read |
| Merger Rejected: Common Sense from Washington | February 2019 | Read |
| Regulatory Candor: Do We Own Up? | July 2018 | Read |
| A Nobel Prize for a Behavioral Economics Pioneer: Are There Lessons for Regulation? | November 2017 | Read |
| The Ethical Regulator | July 2017 | Read |
| The Respectful Regulator | June 2017 | Read |
| The Creative Regulator | May 2017 | Read |
| The Synthesizing Regulator | March 2017 | Read |
| The Disciplined Regulator | February 2017 | Read |
| Advice to Presidents and Governors on Appointing Excellent Regulators | December 2016 | Read |
| Certification of Regulatory Professionals: Why Not? (Part II) | May 2015 | Read |
| Certification of Regulatory Professionals: Why Not? (Part I) | April 2015 | Read |
| A Letter to Governors and Legislators | October 2010 | Read |
| The Effective Regulator: Independence | December 2007 | Read |
| The Effective Regulator: Decisiveness | November 2007 | Read |
| The Effective Regulator: Education | October 2007 | Read |
| The Effective Regulator: Purposefulness | September 2007 | Read |
Jurisdiction: Power Is a Means, Not an End
| Maryland's Supreme Court Loss: A Win for Consumers, Competition and States | May 2016 | |
|---|---|
| FPA "Power Grab": On Whose Foot is the Shoe? | April 2016 | Read |
| Federal–State Jurisdiction IV: A Plea for Constitutional Literacy | July 2012 | Read |
| More on Legislative–Regulatory Relations: Layers, Protections, and Cost-Effectiveness | April 2011 | Read |
| It’s April—Do You Know Where Your Legislatures Are? | March 2011 | Read |
| Intra-Regional Relations: Can States’ Commonalities Overcome Their Differences? | June 2009 | Read |
| Federal–State Jurisdiction III: Jurisdictional Peace Requires Joint Purpose | May 2009 | Read |
| Federal–State Jurisdiction II: Jurisdictional Wrestling vs. Coordinated Regulation | February 2009 | Read |
| Federal–State Jurisdiction I: Pick Your Metaphor | January 2009 | Read |
| Legislatures and Commissions: How Well Do They Work Together? | February 2008 | Read |
Mergers of Regulated Utilities
| Source of Merger Harm: Hierarchical Conflict | March 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Can Mergers Distort Competition? Anticompetitive Conduct and Unearned Advantage | October 2020 | Read |
| Merging Parties Divert Franchise Value from the Customers Who Created It | Read |
| Suboptimal Couplings Cause Economic Waste | June 2020 | Read |
| Thirty Years of Electricity Mergers: Concentration and Complication No One Intended | May 2020 | Read |
| Missing from Utility Merger Markets: Competitive Discipline and Customer Benefits | April 2020 | Read |
| Diverse Strategies, Common Purpose: Selling Public Franchises for Private Gain | March 2020 | Read |
| Electric Utility Mergers: Industry Concentration and Corporate Complication | February 2020 | Read |
| Water Mergers: Are They Making Economic Sense? | June 2019 | Read |
|
Inconsistent with the Public Interest: FERC’S Three Decades of Deference to Electricity Consolidation | December 2018 |
Read |
| Merger Denied: Now What? | October 2016 | Read |
| Distributed Resources and Distribution Mergers: Are They on a Collision Course? | July 2014 | Read |
| "No Harm" vs. "Positive Benefits": The Wrong Conversation about Merger Standards | May 2014 | Read |
| Contests for Control: Who Should Make the Rules? | April 2014 | Read |
| Protecting Innovation during Consolidation: The Advantages of Alertness | February 2014 | Read |
| Two Trends in Tension: Does Consolidation Reduce Innovation? | January 2014 | Read |
| Merger Posture: Don't Defer, Lead | November 2013 | Read |
| The Dangers of Merger Deference II | October 2013 | Read |
| The Dangers of Merger Deference I | September 2013 | Read |
| Merger Proceedings II: Do Commissions Make Themselves Marginal? | August 2013 | Read |
| Merger Proceedings I: Do Commissions Make Themselves Marginal? | June 2013 | Read |
| Merger Strategy: Make Regulators Marginal | May 2013 | Read |
| "Darwin Economics": How Does It Affect Merger Decisions? | April 2013 | Read |
| Preparing for Mergers: A Commission’s Bottom Lines | March 2013 | Read |
| Utility Mergers: Who Has a Vision? | February 2013 | Read |
| Mergers: Are the Promoters Ahead of the Regulators? | March 2012 | Read |
Political Pressures
| Effective Utility Regulation: A Unifying Cause for a Divided America | November 2020 | |
|---|---|
| "I'm an Energy Voter": What Does That Mean This Year? | August 2016 | Read |
| "Regulatory Capture" I — Is It Real? | September 2012 | Read |
| "Regulatory Capture" II — What Are the Warning Signs? | September 2012 | Read |
| “Regulatory Capture” III — Avoiding and Escaping | September 2012 | Read |
| Is Learning to Regulate Like Learning to Cook? | July 2009 | Read |
| "Politics": The Public and Private Versions | May 2008 | Read |
| "Politics": How Can Regulators Respond? | May 2008 | Read |
| Competition "vs." Regulation: Have We Achieved Conversational Clarity? (Part I) | May 2008 | Read |
| Competition "vs." Regulation: Have We Achieved Conversational Clarity? (Part II) | May 2008 | Read |
Practice and Procedure
| Utility Workers: Is Their Mistreatment a Commission Responsibility? | November 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Teaching Public Utility Performance | September 2018 | Read |
| The Committee of Inconsistent Capitalists: Is Your Utility a Member? | May 2018 | Read |
| Tweeting and Polling: Insults to Effective Regulation | January 2018 | Read |
| The Supreme Court Saves Demand Response: Now What? | February 2016 | Read |
| "Reforming the Energy Vision": Did New York Get Everything Right? | July 2015 | Read |
| Agency Adjudication: Efforts at Excellence | January 2015 | Read |
| Demand Response: Four Options for Action, Four Mistakes to Avoid | November 2014 | Read |
| D.C. Circuit Kills Demand Response Compensation: Now What? | June 2014 | Read |
| Utility Rate Proposals: Are We Aligning Compensation With Performance? | July 2013 | Read |
| Competition for the Monopoly — Why So Rare? | January 2013 | Read |
| Rate Case Timing: Alertness or Auto-Pilot? | February 2011 | Read |
| “Prudence”: Who’s Minding the Store? | January 2011 | Read |
| Utility Performance: Will We Know It When We See It? | July 2010 | Read |
| “Framing”: Does It Divert Regulatory Attention? | May 2010 | Read |
| Interconnection Animus: Do Regulatory Procedures Create a “Tragedy of the Commons”? | September 2009 | Read |
| Interconnection Animus: The Readers React | September 2009 | Read |
| "Regulatory Settlements": When Do Private Agreements Serve the Public Interest? | July 2008 | Read |
| Decisional Defaults: Does Regulation Have Them Backwards? | March 2009 | Read |
Regulatory Courage
| Diversity in Utility Regulation | August 2020 | |
|---|---|
| Promoting Diversity and Prohibiting Discrimination: Is There a Regulatory Obligation to Society? | July 2020 | Read |
| Regulatory Principles: Old Thoughts for the New Year | January 2019 | Read |
| Economic Inequality: Does Utility Regulation Contribute? | October 2018 | Read |
| No Anticompetitive Conduct, No Unearned Advantage: Effective Competition Depends on Merit | August 2018 | Read |
| "Transmission Competition": No Longer an Oxymoron | August 2016 | Read |
| Regulatory Law: Why So Unclear on Matters So Important? | July 2016 | Read |
| Executive Pay: Should Regulation Play a Role? | September 2015 | Read |
| What "Regulatory Compact"? | March 2015 | Read |
| Incumbency vs. Diversity, Monopoly vs. Merits: Who Should Provide the New Distribution Platforms? | June 2014 | Read |
| New Suppliers in the New Century: Will Incumbency Trump Merits? | March 2014 | Read |
| “All of the Above” Is Not a National Energy Policy | August 2012 | Read |
| "Affordable" Utility Service: What is Regulation's Role? | June 2012 | Read |
| Supporter-as-Critic: An Expanded Role for Regulatory Professionals | May 2012 | Read |
| Promoting Diversity and Prohibiting Discrimination: Is There a Regulatory Obligation to Society? | January 2012 | Read |
| Separating Policy Mandates From Cost Consequences: Will the Public Lose Trust? | November 2011 | Read |
| “Protect the Consumer” – From What? | September 2010 | Read |
| Low Rates, High Rates, Wrong Rates, Right Rates | December 2008 | Read |
Regulatory Organizations
| Internal Commission Organization: Who Should Do What? | June 2016 | |
|---|---|
| Regulatory Expense: Is Asymmetry Inevitable? | February 2015 | Read |
| As the Resource Gap Grows, What Are a Commission’s Duties? | February 2012 | Read |
| Commission Positioning: Five Actions for Influence | July 2011 | Read |
| Commission Positioning: Using "Vision" to Avoid "Too Big to Fail" | June 2011 | Read |
| Commission Budgets: How Do We Know—and Explain—that We're "Worth It"? | May 2011 | Read |
| Commission “Branding”: Can It Help Produce Utility Performance? | August 2010 | Read |
| Pharmacies and Regulatory Conferences: Do They Have Anything in Common? Can Socrates Help? | November 2009 | Read |
| Commission Effectiveness: Is It Measurable? | April 2009 | Read |
| Regulatory Resources II: Do the Differentials Make a Difference? | September 2008 | Read |
| Regulatory Resources I: Why Do Differentials Exist? | September 2008 | Read |