Pa. Environmental Regulator Not Nostalgic About Monopoly Electricity Regulation
It’s a human trait to look back on the past as a time when things were better, John Hanger, Secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, told a gathering in Harrisburg last week. But when it comes to monopoly regulation of the state’s electric utilities, “I don’t look back with fondness to how that system was working,” said Hanger, a keynote speaker at an event sponsored by Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future that highlighted the economic and environmental benefits for consumers from electricity competition. Hanger headed the environmental group, also known as PennFuture, before becoming the state’s top environmental regulator, and was a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in the 1990s.
Hanger recounted how before the 1996 state law opening Pennsylvania’s electricity market to competition, there was no renewable energy, poor electric system reliability, nuclear plants operated at about a 60 percent capacity factor, and Pennsylvania consumers paid 15 percent more than the national average for their electricity supplies. Today, thanks to competition, Pennsylvania is a leader in wind energy, nuclear plants operate at capacity factors above 90 percent, and the cost of electricity for the state’s consumers is 5 percent below the national average. Hanger described the state’s experience with electricity competition as a testament to the inscription on the state capitol building in Harrisburg: “Dare to do the right thing and trust the consequences to infinite wisdom.”
By Steve Elsea, Director of Energy Services, Leggett & Platt, Inc. Leggett & Platt, a member of the COMPETE Coalition, is a diversified manufacturer that conceives, designs and produces a broad variety of engineered components and products for customers worldwide.
Joel Malina | December 8, 2009
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