We compare the economic efficiency of a publicly-owned utility directly controlled by the government with a publicly-owned utility regulated by a public utility commission (PUC). Regulation by a PUC is modelled as a Nash equilibrium of a game between two principals, the government and the PUC,...

Load management programs are used by electric utilities to reduce the amount of reserve capacity that is required in order to meet peak consumption. Although these programs are generally offered to costumers as alternatives to regular service, economic models of their allocative efficiency have...