Nicholas Institute experts are helping illuminate the landscape of power sector competitiveness across the Southeastern and Western United States.
The electricity sector in the United States operates through a complex series of systems including state commissions, public and private utilities, and, in some markets, independent grid operators. Each state’s policies and market structure design shape energy choice, market concentration, and utility ratemaking—as well as how regulators, utilities, consumers, and other stakeholders engage with one another.
The Nicholas Institute analyzes power sector policies and data to better understand the landscape of competitiveness across the Southeastern and Western United States. Duke experts are unpacking competitiveness characteristics and challenges—and offering policy approaches that could improve power sector operations and customer outcomes by supporting affordability, reliability, and innovation.
Nicholas Institute experts are developing tools and conducting analysis to inform policymakers, regulators, energy industry leaders, and consumers on topics including:
- How regulatory policies and utility arrangements shape the continuum of competitiveness.
- State-level data and policy analysis within the Southeastern Power Sector, including competitiveness rankings, market concentration, and consumer and environmental conditions.
- National power sector market concentration analysis.
Media Inquiries
Jackson Ewing and other Duke experts are available to speak with journalists and decision makers on topics related to power sector competitiveness.
Contact: ni-comm@duke.edu.
Key Publications
Encouraging or Impeding Power Sector Competitiveness: Utility Incentives and Regulatory Policies in the Southeastern US and Beyond
The power sector faces intersecting challenges: surging electricity demand, rising customer costs, and the imperative to decarbonize the grid. Competitiveness policies that broaden market participation and better align utility incentives with these goals offer a path forward.
Options on a Continuum of Competition for the Southeastern Electricity Sector
The purpose of this policy brief is to describe different ways to engender consumer choice, third-party participation, resource sharing, and regional grid management in the power sector, using existing examples from this region. It includes questions stakeholders might think through in these conversations, and fundamentally aims to educate and inform.
