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Articles by Michael Giberson
Growing Electricity Use Lowers Rates-Until It Doesn’t
Growing Electricity Use Lowers Rates—Until It Doesn’t Electricity bills are up, and data centers are getting the blame. But in the data so far, the states with the fastest-growing power use have mostly seen rates rise slower than elsewhere, not faster. Rising demand is supposed to push rates up, not down, but there are good reasons to think rising demand has held electric rates down in some areas. The question worth asking is whether we can count on that to last.
Ignoring customers is unsustainable and bad policy
Kent Chandler is a resident senior fellow in energy and environmental policy at the R Street Institute, Chris Villarreal is an associate fellow in energy and environmental policy at R Street and Michael Giberson is a senior fellow in energy policy at R Street. Electric bills are rising, and energy adequacy is at the top of policymakers’ agendas. The most recent North American Electric Reliability Corp.
New York’s Failed Economic Case for Price-Gouging Enforcement
A major winter storm across northern New York State in January 1998 snapped power lines and left thousands without electricity, as temperatures plunged. In the small town of Chazy, just south of the Canadian border, a local hardware store stepped up. Chazy Hardware had just one generator on hand, but it managed to locate 54 more on a Saturday in Burlington, Vermont. The following morning, a driver and truck made the icy hours-long round trip to bring them back.
RSI scholars on Trump tariffs’ impact on energy, insurance, U.S. agriculture, consumer prices, and more
News RSI scholars on Trump tariffs’ impact on energy, insurance, U.S. agriculture, consumer prices, and more Print Share via Email: RSI%20scholars%20on%20Trump%20tariffs’%20impact%20on%20energy,%20insurance,%20U.S.%20agriculture,%20consumer%20prices,%20and%20more Share via Facebook: RSI%20scholars%20on%20Trump%20tariffs’%20impact%20on%20energy,%20insurance,%20U.S.%20agriculture,%20consumer%20prices,%20and%20more Share via Twitter:...
Lynne Kiesling, Author at Reason Foundation
Lynne Kiesling is an economist focusing on regulation, market design, and the economics of digitization and smart grid technologies in the electricity industry. She is the Director of the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics in the Center on Law, Business, and Economics, and is an Adjunct Professor in the Master of Science in Energy and Sustainability program, both at Northwestern University.
Arizona opinion: Retail electric competition merits new look
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer: In Arizona, consumers can choose their cars, homes, phone providers and where they shop for food. You cannot shop for electricity. Don’t like the latest rate hike? You’re stuck with the local monopoly. Want 100% renewable power? The monopoly says no. Prefer fossil fuels instead?
Competition in Electric Markets Offers Benefits, but Smart Implementation is Key
Competition in Electric Power—What Does the Record Say? About 25 years ago the electric power industry was deep into debates over competition and monopoly. For most of the last century, nearly everyone agreed that monopoly was not only natural but even desirable in electric power as long as regulators ensured that the benefits of monopoly were shared with consumers.
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APPA opinion on electric rates misses mark, retail choice better for customers: Opposition
Opinion Author By Michael Giberson and Arthur R. Wardle Published June 14, 2019 The following is a contributed article from Michael Giberson, Associate Professor of Practice in Business Economics at Texas Tech University and Arthur R. Wardle, a CGO Graduate Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University.
A Texas price gouging law is backfiring
In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, a photo of a case of bottled water selling for nearly $43 at a Houston-area Best Buy quickly became the target of social media outrage. Consumers under stress from the storm were quick to object to higher prices, and store representatives quickly apologized. When an emergency is declared by the governor, it becomes illegal in Texas to sell fuel, food, medicine or other necessities for an excessive price.
Advisory Committee’s Report Critical of Fracking, Spurs Outpouring of Spin
Even before the natural gas subcommittee to the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board released it’s “Ninety Day Report” on hydraulic fracking today, anti-fracking groups shifted their spin operations into high gear. On Monday, a letter to President Obama sponsored by 68 groups called on him to “employ any legal means to put a halt to hydraulic fracturing” in natural gas development.
We Don’t Need a Geothermal Portfolio Standard
The new Jan./Feb. 2011 issue of the Electricity Journal is now available, and it contains the usual range of interesting things to consider. Take, for instance, the article “Redefining Renewable Portfolio Standards: The Value of Installed Renewable Capacity.” The article observes, reasonably so, that some sources of renewable power can dependably generate power around the clock, while others are somewhat less dependable.
What scientific information or data does the Department of Interior intend to rely upon in fracking policy actions?
U.S. House Republicans sent a short note over to the U.S. Department of the Interior, inquiring as to Interior’s plans for regulatory or policy changes with respect to hydraulic fracturing on public lands. My favorites from among the questions asked: The first of my favorites is actually a useful question for folks interested in science-grounded, reality-based public policy. The second is a barely disguised declaration that House Republicans are getting ready to fight DOI on the issue.
Appliance sales to get ‘cash for clunkers’ boost?
In the news, reports of a “cash for clunkers” program for major appliances: USA Today: Appliances get their own recycled clunkers programs ; Business Week: Latest in Stimulus: ‘Cash for Refrigerators’ ; Associated Press: Meltdown 101: Government cash for green appliances Beginning late this fall, the program authorizes rebates of $50 to $200 for purchases of high-efficiency household appliances. The money is part of the broader economic stimulus bill passed earlier this year.
Why is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve unable to operate during power outages?
According to the US Department of Energy, “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve exists, first and foremost, as an emergency response tool the President can use should the United States be confronted with an economically-threatening disruption in oil supplies.” In response to disruptions caused by Hurricane Gustav, the DOE has indicated a willingness to release reserves from the SPR.
Connecticut Attorney General proposes new state energy agency to combat incentives for economic efficiency
In economic theory, in lab experiments, in practice – pretty much generally speaking – it is well established in economics that a uniform clearing price auction works better than a pay-as-bid auction in cases such as the spot markets for power operated by the NYISO and ISO-New England (and every similar market in the United States, and most every other similar market internationally).
Shifting policy extinguishes short-lived Spanish solar boom, fortunately
The New York Times has a fascinating story on the solar power industry boom and bust in Spain created by shifting public policies. Similar effects have been observed from shifts in subsidy support for renewable power development in the United States, though because the subsidy was smaller and spread over a larger area the consequences were not so dramatic as described in the Spanish solar policy case.
Why a big increase in "green jobs" might be a bad sign
The U.S. Conference of Mayors trumpets a study predicting a boom in green jobs. (A green job, for this study, is a job “devoted to the reduction of fossil fuels, the increase of energy efficiency, and the curtailment of greenhouse gas emissions.”) According to a groundbreaking study establishing a national Green Jobs Index, the U.S. economy currently generates more than 750,000 green jobs–a number that is projected to grow five-fold to more than 4.2 million jobs over the next three decades.
Power consumers in New York and New England markets rely on imports from Canada
Power consumers in New York and New England markets rely on imports from Canada, so they may be interested in discussions between Quebec and New Brunswick that would give Quebec more control over power delivered from Eastern Canada into the Northeastern United States.
Take-or-pay contracts: Lessons from Brazil and Bolivia
Yesterday’s post on the Gazprom take-or-pay contract dispute mentions a now classic article by Scott Masten and Keith Crocker, “ Efficient adaptation in long-term contracts: Take-or-pay provisions for natural gas ” (American Economic Review, 1985). You may wonder if there is newer work on take-or-pay contracting potentially relevant to the case of Gazprom and its customers.
I cringe when I see Hayek’s knowledge problem wielded as a rhetorical club
The knowledge problem made the newspaper today – that’s Hayek’s concept of the knowledge problem, not the KP blog that Lynne and I operate. But since we appreciate the significance of Hayek’s insight on the mobilization of knowledge, it seems appropriate to draw attention to Glenn Reynold’s op-ed, “Progressives can’t get past the Knowledge Problem,” appearing today in the Washington Examiner.
DOE grid study has wind and solar lobbyists spooked - rightly so
When Energy Secretary Rick Perry requested a study of electric grid reliability, wind and solar energy lobbyists were predictably alarmed. Perry wanted to know how federal policies were shaping wholesale electricity markets and whether public policies were responsible for forcing the premature retirement of baseload power plants. The government has long had a role in the electric power industry, so asking for a survey of its effects should not be controversial. The reason for the alarm?
Dr. Ehrlich, Call Your Office
Michael Giberson I ended my semester in “Energy and Environmental Economics” talking about resource optimism and resource pessimism, framed mostly as a big picture debate between Julian Simon and others against Paul Ehrlich and Neo-Malthusians. Simon reports being puzzled at how folks could look at data showing human health and well-being getting better and better and come to the conclusion we were all doomed and it was probably too late to do anything about it.
“Please, Sirs, May I Have Some More … Subsidies for Wind Power?”
Michael Giberson From The Hill’s Energy & Environment Blog: A group of military veterans pressed congressional Republicans on Thursday to renew a tax credit for the wind industry that their party’s standard-bearer, Mitt Romney, has vowed to end.
Concentrated Benefits and Dispersed Costs
Michael Giberson Recently I went looking for a source for the idea that special interest lobbying succeeds due to the logic of concentrated benefits and dispersed costs. Frequently in economics and especially among public choice analysts the concept is attributed to Mancur Olson and sometimes specifically to The Logic of Collective Action.
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