Anti-trust and regulatory issues in a competitive electric industry

Abstract

This paper contains a brief synopsis of the anti-trust enforcement structure and those anti-trust principles most pertinent to the regulated energy industries of the USA. A discussion of how the courts have applied anti-trust doctrine, especially to electric power, follows. The evolving role of agencies charged with economic regulation who have themselves applied anti-trust principles as competition emerges is then discussed, as are the major institutional relationships, most notably between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the traditional anti-trust enforcement agencies. How FERC is applying anti-trust principles in the course of various facets of its economic regulation of these industries is analysed. Finally, in view of the enormous task facing the European Community integrating its energy markets by 1992, the article looks at the US-Canadian experience of integrating their domestic energy markets under the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (1 January 1989).