Annual PURC Conference

For more than 30 years, our annual conference has served as a neutral forum for engaging dialogue about issues facing utility service providers, policymakers and regulatory agencies. The February event in Gainesville brings together key leaders in industry and academia, primarily from Florida and the Southeast.

39th Annual PURC Conference

Utility Policy Today: Do we have Strategies or Just Tactics?
February 15-16, 2012
Hilton UF Conference Center
Gainesville, FL

Strategy is a plan to achieve a goal, but what if the goals are still under debate or keep changing? Can regulators, utility professionals, and stakeholders formulate strategies, or are they reduced to tactics while policymakers debate? As PURC enters its 40th year of serving Florida, utility regulation remains a controversial and complex topic. This year's conference addresses key issues facing utilities, their regulators, and their customers:

• What are the ongoing battles (or disagreements) in energy, telecommunications, and water?
• Are the battles needed or are they merely legacies from previous eras?
• Are there new technologies, social developments, and information that decision-makers need to consider so debates can be fact-based?
• Are public priorities based on realistic views regarding what is possible?

The 39th Annual PURC Conference will explore whether the goals of regulators and executives are fundamentally consistent and whether achieving them is actually feasible. Speakers will examine the extent to which public policy ignores trade-offs among legitimate objectives. Sessions will explore how decision-makers who determine infrastructure performance can design strategies and develop coherent tactics that lead to outcomes citizens desire. Please make plans to join us.

PURC is registered with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation as a provider of continuing professional education programs. Each year, we apply to the DBPR for technical business CPE credit for conference sessions, as well as to the Florida Bar for general CLER credit for Florida law practitioners.

PURC Distinguished Service Award

Each year at the PURC Annual Conference, PURC honors an individual who has contributed to the understanding of regulatory economics and finance. The PURC Distinguished Service Award recognizes the cumulative impact of an individual's research and policy analyses on both the academic community and regulatory policymakers.

Gerald L. Gunter Distinguished Service Award

The Gerald L. Gunter Distinguished Service Award is presented jointly at our Annual Conference by PURC and the Florida Public Service Commission. It recognizes a Public Service Commission employee who has made a significant contribution to the development of regulatory policy.

The award is named after the late FPSC Commissioner Gerald L. Gunter, who was especially supportive of the relationship between the University and the Florida PSC. After his death in June 1991, the Gerald L. Gunter Memorial was established by his friends and colleagues. In addition to the Gunter Award, financial gifts enabled the establishment of the Gunter Professorship in the Warrington College of Business Administration. Richard Romano serves as the Gerald L. Gunter Professor of research in regulatory policy.