Following is a more detailed outline of content contained in the Energy Regulation Fundamentals online course.

Introduction

• The role of regulation
• Course objectives

Basic Concepts of Energy Regulation

• What is regulation?
• Why industries are regulated
• Energy companies that are regulated and why it’s important to regulate them
• Natural monopolies (LDCs, UDCs, vertically integrated electric utilities, ISOs/RTOs)
• Essential facilities (transmission lines, gas pipelines, gas storage facilities, LNG terminals)
• Competitive market participants (merchant generators, wholesale traders, financial services providers, retail marketers)
• Who are the regulators and who do they regulate? (federal, state, local)
• What does regulation do?
• Impacts of regulation on energy companies, consumers and politicians
• A brief history of regulation in the U.S.
• The movement to deregulation in the U.S.
• The regulatory compact (federal and state)
• Six goals of regulators
• Safe and reliable energy
• Just and reasonable pricing
• Economic efficiency
• Consumer protection
• Public goods programs
• Fair return to shareholders
• How regulation is determined
• The regulatory process
• The realities of regulation

Regulatory Proceedings

• The purpose of a regulatory proceeding
• Who initiates proceedings
• Proceedings initiated by a regulator (rulemakings, inquiries and investigations)
• Proceedings initiated by a regulated company (cost of capital proceedings, rate cases, certificate cases, applications, mergers and acquisitions approvals, proceedings initiated by others, complaints, petitions)
• The regulatory process step by step: proceeding initiation, initial conference, opening briefs, discovery, hearings, closing briefs, draft decision, final decision, implementation, appeal
• Settlements
• Participants and their roles and goals: commissioners, presiding officer, commission staff, regulated energy companies, regulated energy company employees, intervenors

Revenue Requirements and Ratemaking

• Types of ratemaking
• Determining cost-based rates
• Task 1: Establishing the cost of capital
• Task 2: Setting the revenue requirement
• Task 3: Allocating the revenue requirement among customer classes
• Task 4: Setting rates
• The rate case proceeding
• How rates are adjusted between rate cycles
• Setting rates for municipal utilities and co-ops
• Issues with cost-of-service ratemaking
• Incentive regulation (performance incentives, market-based/benchmark incentives)
• Market-based rates
• The unique case of the ISO
• Impacts on earnings from each type of ratemaking

Concepts of Natural Gas and Electricity Deregulation

• Reasons for deregulating an industry
• Unbundling the gas and electric industries
• Competitive wholesale markets and key transition issues (market liquidity, market power, transparent pricing, open access)
• Consistent rules
• Competitive retail markets and key transition issues
• Multiple suppliers and open entry
• Provider of last resort function
• Reliability and sufficient capacity
• Unbundling services and funding social programs
• Cost allocation
• Consumer protection and education
• Transition mechanisms
• Transition issues for the unbundled utility, competitive market participants and consumers
• The evolution and current status of gas restructuring in the U.S. (wholesale markets, retail markets state by state)
• The evolution and current status of electric restructuring in the U.S. (wholesale markets including current RTOs/ ISOs, retail markets state by state