Michael Giberson

Apparently each generation of utility regulators and energy policy analysts need to reinvent "performance based ratemaking"

Low-Energy Fridays: Emergency Orders Are Not a Grid Reliability Strategy - R Street Institute In May, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ordered two power plants on the verge of retiring to remain operational for a time. Typical bureaucratic meddling. The agency said that the plants—a Michiga...

You know what isn’t good for grid reliability?

“Just keep that one plant running a little longer.”

The DOE is using emergency powers like duct tape on a cracked pipe. Here I explain why that’s bad policy.

www.rstreet.org/commentary/l...

Superman: A Classic Message Restored | DC In a recently much circulated image of a 1950’s-era color poster, Superman can be seen speaking to school children about the importance of respecting diversity.

Superman: woke since 1949 www.dc.com/blog/2017/08...

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 C...

New York AG’s efforts to clarify enforcement of its price gouging laws is good in principle, and engaging with economics is a good step. Only, they don’t really take economics seriously, so much more work is needed.

truthonthemarket.com/2025/04/22/n...

BOTUS : Planet Money Two years ago, we built a machine that bought and sold stocks automatically based on President Trump's tweets. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

Planet Money explored trading on Trump tweets in the earlier administration. Unsurprisingly, his tweets were an unreliable signal. www.npr.org/2019/10/08/7...

Low-Energy Fridays: Your electric bill is hiding something - R Street Institute When gas prices spike rapidly at every pump in town, boldly displayed for all to see, drivers can adjust their use immediately. But when electricity costs surge, utilities keep charging the same flat ...

Electricity production costs can vary dramatically within a day, and consumers end up paying for the really expensive power—just not in a way that’s visible or controllable by consumers. We can do better.
www.rstreet.org/commentary/l...

An alternate real solution is driving up the price of oil by making hydrocarbons more valuable in non-combustion uses.

The complaint itself is available from the FERC eLibrary elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/fil...

Michael Giberson Testimony in support of complaint at FERC in "Industrial Consumers of America et al v. Avista Corporation; Idaho Power Company et al" - R Street Institute SUMMARY The purpose of my testimony is to establish that the Commission’s obligation to ensure just and reasonable rates requires all transmission facilities 100 kV and above meeting the Bulk Electric...

That explanation explains the testimony I wrote in support of the complaint (included in the filing as Attachment C). If you prefer the economics and industry jargon laden version of the testimony, it's at this link. www.rstreet.org/outreach/mic...

Loophole Allows Monopoly Utilities to Charge Electric Customers with Minimal Regulatory Oversight. Consumers Want FERC to Fix It. - R Street Institute Electric bills have been rising, and for most Americans, the largest driver is the regulated “wires” part of the industry—the massive network of transmission and distribution lines that delivers elect...

In December @rstreet.bsky.social, other consumer advocates, & industrial consumers filed a complaint at FERC seeking reforms in transmission planning (primarily aimed at the regulatory gap that grants monopolies easy access to rate hikes). Here's an explanation. www.rstreet.org/commentary/l...

FACT SHEET: Climate and Energy Implications of Crypto-Assets in the United States | OSTP | The White House Climate change is one of the most pressing problems confronting our nation and our world, and President Biden has taken bold steps to address it with legislation and policy. Among the President’s comm...

Heads up, the Biden-Harris White House websites are now archived! If you have an old link that gives an error, you can delete the www . whitehouse in the link (be sure to remove the www) and replace with bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/ [rest of your link]
bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/ostp/news-up...

Granted, the emission free technology is pretty amazing, and I like it. It just isn’t free.

No cost to whom?

Constellation, Calpine, and Market Power The combined company would have significant market share in several ISOs. As energy economist Frank Wolak once said, “It is difficult to conceive of an industry more susceptible to the exercise of …

It seems an oversight to express concern about the potential abuse of market power in ISOs without at least briefly mentioning ISO market monitoring and market power mitigation measures. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/01/21/c...

Texas Republicans did not deregulate, they reformed the regulatory system for the grid covering a large part of the state. Few informed analysts link the reforms to the February 2021 energy system failures. Our “Digital Warrior” is spreading disinformation.

I’m pretty sure there are superior alternatives to either of these extremes.

Is anyone surprised that oil and gas executives are not supporting candidates dedicated to ending the oil and gas industry?

Whales are the new snail darters?

From what I can tell the California Energy Commission is declaring progress on the time honored logic of “Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.” www.energy.ca.gov/news/2024-12...

Top minds are working on it.

“How a simple math error sparked a panic about black plastic kitchen utensils”: Does it matter when an estimate is off by a factor of 10?
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/12/13/h...

Madison, WI
Bloomington, IN
Athens, GA

I’m not expert enough to say who was wrong about pandemic strategy but it was obvious that Fauci was dishonest in his public statements. Don’t know if lying is the kind of “wrong” that gets grace by the essayist’s standards.

Odd an essay declaring "In that context, some grace is warranted for those whose predictions turned out to be wrong" expresses little grace toward Bhattacharya or his ideas on how to respond to the pandemic. Maybe the essayist reserves grace only for officially blessed wrong predictions?

How billionaire Charles Koch’s network won a 40-year war to curb regulation A seismic Supreme Court ruling on Chevron deference ushered in a new era of diminished federal power. The next Trump administration hopes to capitalize on it.

It probably wasn’t the reporters’ intentions, but this article strike me as expressing begrudging admiration for the careful, long run legal strategies that led to overturning the Chevron doctrine. wapo.st/4g2Stv3

Yes, cost-causation is established regulatory principle. This is the way. However, other than the large power consumption at a site I don’t think they require much in the way of special attention.

Counterpoint: The Federal Power Act prohibits discriminatory practices
for good reason. A new data center or steel mill or manufacturing plant should get access to power under the same rules.

The “most free market system” is primarily organized around IRS tax treatment of employer health insurance benefits that ties insurance to jobs + govt mandates and penalties?

But I agree with you in that I would not shop at such a bookstore. Twitter just doesn’t feel like that, to me it feels like a place where a community of energy policy people mix it up plus a few economists and others I know and some random noise which is occasionally interesting.