Is the FERC an effective cop on the beat in Washington to maintain competition?
I think if you compare or contrast gas deregulation to electricity deregulation … the FERC, in those days [for the natural gas pipeline industry] exerted very strong jurisdiction over the transmission grid. They basically said, “You guys are going to open up to competition. Anybody that wants to use your pipes uses them on an equivalent basis. You can’t bias the use of the pipes to yourself.” In electricity, FERC has not pushed as hard. It’s more complicated because there are more jurisdictional issues and all the rest of this. But for example, regional transmission organizations–RTOs, they’re called–everybody agrees they make sense. And FERC comes out with an order that says it’s voluntary. … If you’re the cop on the beat and somebody’s stealing apples, you tell them to stop it. You don’t say, “I would like you voluntarily to stop stealing apples from the shopkeeper.” So, yes, I think FERC has to exert more forceful jurisdiction on the system to guarantee that people open up the
