Following is a more detailed outline of content contained in the Basic Concepts of Natural Gas and Electricity Regulation online course.

Course content:

• The role of energy regulation
• What is regulation and why regulate?
• Natural monopolies
  • Characteristics
    • High initial capital investment
    • Economies of scale
    • Inefficiency of duplicative infrastructure
    • Essential services
  • Natural monopoly types (gas distribution companies, electric distribution companies, vertically integrated electric utilities, independent system operators)
• Essential facilities
  • Characteristics
  • Essential facility types (electric transmission lines, gas transmission pipelines, gas storage facilities, LNG terminals)
• Competitive market participants
  • Why they are regulated
  • Competitive market participant types (merchant generators, wholesale traders, financial services providers, retail marketers)
• Who are the regulators and who do they regulate?
  • Federal (FERC)
  • State
  • Local
• Multiple regulators for a single company
• The regulatory compact (federal and state)
• What does regulation do? (six functions)
• Who is impacted by regulation? (monopoly utilities, essential facilities, competitive companies, consumers)
• Six goals of regulators
• Safe and reliable energy
• Just and reasonable pricing
• Economic efficiency
• Consumer protection
• Public good
• Fair return on investment
• How regulation is determined and examples of important legislation
• The ten steps of the regulatory process
• The reality of regulation