Course examines current problems and issues in the field of public policy. Topics may vary from year to year and will be announced at the beginning of the semester. Open to students from other departments.

The emphasis of this course will be on the economic regulation of electricity and natural gas and the ways in which it shapes and enables public policy innovation. Along the way, we will look at all of the following The regulatory rationale in the context of basic microeconomic principles, the nature of energy technology and the evolution of energy regulation on the state and federal level in the United States. The fundamentals of revenue requirement and rate design, and the way that these concepts become vehicles to advance various public policy objectives Evolving competitive alternatives to traditional cost-of-service rate regulation. The electricity deregulation experiment in California and throughout the nation, the resulting energy crisis in California, and current efforts to reconsider the utility business model. How the economic regulatory framework creates opportunities to implement important public policies The enhanced role that concerns about climate change plays in the regulatory decision making in California and elsewhere.

Repeat Rules