Power Loss : The Origins of Deregulation & Restructuring in the American Electric Utility System

By Richard F. Hirsh

1999, Paperback

MIT Press

Power Loss: The Origins of Deregulation and Restructuring in the American Electric Utility System by Richard F. Hirsh is a history of how the U.S. electric utility industry moved from tightly regulated monopoly service toward deregulation and competition, with special attention to the policy, technological, and institutional pressures that drove the change. Hirsh shows how earlier regulation shaped the industry for decades and how later shifts, especially in the 1970s and 1990s, opened the door to restructuring, generation unbundling, and retail competition. It is often described as a careful, well-documented account that helps explain why electricity markets changed so dramatically by the end of the 20th century.