Duke University Study Recommends Southeast States, Utilities Consider RTO to Cut Power Costs

A new study from Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions says a large Southeast power market would be the best hope for creating greater competition, lowering prices and encouraging cleaner energy production as the Carolinas look for alternative regulatory structures for their power utilities, reports the Charlotte Business Journal.

The policy brief by Jennifer Chen, senior counsel for federal energy policy at the Nicholas Institute, says that, coupled with effective policy direction, “enhancing competition for wholesale transactions through a regional organized market ... is likely to lower wholesale costs, provide nonincumbent generators with easier access to the system, and improve power system efficiency and flexibility.”

Read the policy brief, "Evaluating Options for Enhancing Wholesale Competition and Implications for the Southeastern United States."