Is the Utility Transmission Syndicate Forever?

Approved by states to act as local monopolists, investor-owned utilities (IOUs) promptly extended their reach by building transmission lines to neighboring utility systems. Transmission links transformed IOUs from statesanctioned service providers to interstate system operators and wholesalers. With overriding control over transmission in their monopoly service territories, IOUs exploited nearby non-profit utilities and regionalized their dominance through collusive agreements with each other that obstructed competition and cartelized infrastructure development. From 1996 to 2011, FERC issued four orders that aimed to wrest the nation’s high-voltage electric delivery systems from IOU control and open interstate power systems to competition. FERC’s agenda has since stalled. Further action is needed to disconnect transmission expansion from IOUs’ stategranted service territories.