News & Events
North American Energy Markets Association Presentation
Public policy, like nature, abhors a vacuum. The federal legislature may not be taking steps to shape U.S. energy policy, but the past year has seen other federal agencies step up and fill this gap in leadership. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has become the real leader in U.S. energy policy over the past year, and this role has implications for all market participants. PURC Director of Energy Studies Ted Kury shared his views on the state of U.S. energy policy in this evolving environment with participants at the annual meeting and spring conference of the North American Energy Markets Association.
PURC Awards Prize for Best Paper
Sometimes regulations intended to reduce carbon emissions may actually increase emissions if policymakers fail to understand businesses and consumers. That is the conclusion of the paper “Fast and Furious (and Dirty): The Effects of Environmental Policy on the Swedish Car Market,” by Cristian Huse. This paper, which received the 2012 PURC prize for best paper in regulation at the 10th Annual International Industrial Organization Conference, examined the Swedish Green Car Rebate, which provides financial incentives to customers to buy new green cars, that is, cars that meet new mileage standards or use fuels other than gasoline or diesel.
PURC Director Mark Jamison, left, presents the PURC Prize for Best Paper in Regulation to Cristian Huse of the Stockholm School of Economics.
Intended to reduce vehicle carbon emissions and the use of imported oil, the program actually increased both. Consumers responded to the lower cost of purchasing new vehicles by buying larger ones, which were more affordable by the rebate. Auto manufactures ensured that larger vehicles qualified for the rebates by designing the vehicles to use alternative fuels. However, the alternative fuels were more costly for consumers than gasoline or diesel, so auto manufacturers made the new vehicles as flexible-fuel vehicles. In a sense, customers were able to have their cake and eat it, too, in that they received rebates for buying the larger flexible-fuel vehicles, but continued to use lower-cost, traditional fuels. Emissions levels of regular cars went down, but this downward trend did not appear to be triggered by the introduction of the rebate.
What can policymakers take away from this research? Whenever policymakers want to change behavior, they should first ask: 1) Is the policy even needed? [If the trend is going in the desired direction, maybe a policy change isn’t needed.] 2) Could the incentive system possibly result in the opposite of what was intended? 3) Is there a more direct way to achieve the objective, for example, subsidizing renewable energy or taxing fossil fuels?
39th Annual PURC Conference: “Utility Policy Today: Do We Have Strategies or Just Tactics?” in Gainesville, FL
Left: PURC Director, Mark Jamison, right, presents Shane Greenstein with the 2012 PURC Distinguished Service Award. Right: he presents Tom Ballinger with the 2012 Gerald L. Gunter Distinguished Service Award.
2012 Annual PURC Conference speakers included Florida Advisor on Energy Policy Mary Bane, Don Stockdale of Mayer Brown, Katrina McMurrian of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition, and Ed Kee of NERA, among others. Tom Ballinger of the Florida Public Service Commission was the recipient of the 2012 Gerald L. Gunter Distinguished Service Award. Following the conference, Shane Greenstein of Northwestern University delivered the Economics seminar at the UF Warrington College of Business Administration, “Collective Intelligence and Neutral Pint of View: The Case of Wikipedia.”
National Electricity Forum
Presentations and feedback helped attendees at the 2012 National Electricity Forum explore the balance between regulation and market structures to incentivize and facilitate the development of a flexible, environmentally benign, and cost effective electricity system. Florida Public Utilities Professor Dr. Sanford Berg spoke on the theme of this year’s forum, “Visualizing the 21st Century Electricity Industry,” as one of the panelists in the concluding session on Institutional Solutions.
Practicing Leadership in a Political Environment: A One-Day Intensive Training Workshop for Emerging Leaders in Utility Policy in Gainesville, FL
PURC Director Mark Jamison and Assistant Director Araceli Castañeda delivered a leadership workshop for international regulatory professionals.
30th PURC/World Bank International Training Program on Utility Regulation and Strategy in Gainesville, FL
In attendance for the 30th program were 66 participants from 22 nations.
American Economic Association Panel Presentation
Audience members listened as PURC Director of Energy Studies Ted Kury presented his paper, “The Price Effects of Independent System Operators in the United States Electricity Market”. The paper assesses whether regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) have had any impact on the price of electricity in the U.S. Mr. Kury delivered his presentation as a member of a panel sponsored by the American Economic Association during the Allied Social Science Assocation’s annual meeting in Chicago.
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The Gator Nation
We welcome you to The Gator Nation! Whlle the University of Florida is located in Gainesville, The Gator Nation is everywhere, all over the world. In this section, we recognize our colleagues on their recent achievements and promotions.
The Gator Nation Archive
We are pleased to welcome José Luis Gómez-Barroso as a new PURC Senior Research Associate. Dr. Gómez-Barroso is an associate professor in the Department of Applied Economics and Economic History at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) in Madrid, Spain.
We are pleased to announce that PURC Policy Analyst Dr. Lynne Holt has been promoted to Associate In the Department of Economics in the UF Warrington College of Business Administration. Congratulations Dr. Holt!
UF graduate and former PURC student assistant Elizabeth Rojas recently served as a Florida Gubernatorial Fellow working for the Division of Emergency Management, Statewide Strategic Plan for Persons with Disabilities during Disasters.
In May, she received an award from the Hoffman Foundation to extend her fellowship for an additional six months and is currently working for Governor Rick Scott as a liaison between the state and federal government in the Office of Federal Affairs in Washington D.C.
While at UF, Rojas was a student assistant in the PURC/World Bank International Training Program on Utility Regulation and Strategy and said the experience was invaluable. Dr. Jamison served as her thesis mentor, and they worked together on an econometric model to test the impact of federal policies on the U.S. ethanol industry.
"Dr. Jamison was an exceptional mentor and helped me throughout this difficult process," said Rojas. "I was completing my fellowship in Tallahassee while I was writing my thesis, so it took a lot of effort from Dr. J to communicate with me to get this accomplished."
Rojas graduated from UF summa cum laude in economics in April 2011, completing a double major in economics and political science with a minor in Latin American studies. She wants to pursue a job in public policy or as a campaign aide and is considering studying for an MBA at Georgetown University.
Congratulations to Dr. David E. M. Sappington, director of the Robert F. Lanzillotti Public Policy Research Center at the University of Florida, who was named president of the Industrial Organization Society in early 2008. Dr. Sappington is a frequent speaker at the PURC/World Bank International Training Program on Utility Regulation and Strategy.
Tobias Aloisi Swai, a graduate of the June 2004 PURC/World Bank International Training Program, and lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, returned to the University of Florida in May 2008 to participate in the 2008 International Academy of African Business and Development Conference, co-sponsored by PURC. He presented the paper, "Business Development Services to Small and Medium Enterprises: Experiences from an Online Business Plan in Tanzania."
We welcome Fulbright Visiting Scholar Dr. Iram Khan from Pakistan. While at PURC, he plans to study utility regulation, write research papers and develop e-learning modules for the Body of Knowledge on Infrastructure Regulation.
Congratulations to PURC Research Associate Dr. Hamilton Silva who received an award in economic regulation for his paper, "Cost Efficiency in Periodic Tariff Reviews: The Reference Utility Approach and the Role of Interest Groups," from the Secretaria de Acompanhamento Economico (SEAE) of Brazil's Ministry of the Economy.
Congratulations to Mohamadou A. Saibou in Dakar, Senegal on his new position as general director of ESMT, a Centre of Excellence of the International Telecommunication Union. He is a graduate of the 22nd PURC/World Bank International Training Program in June.
Best wishes to Man Ho Au, who retired as Director-General of the Office of the Telecommunications Authority of Hong Kong on July 1. He attended the second delivery of the PURC/World Bank International Training Program, and served as a speaker at several subsequent programs.
Congratulations to Golda Sowah of the National Communications Authority in Ghana and a graduate of the June 2007 PURC/World Bank International Training Program. She was promoted to senior manager July 1.
Congratulations to Roberto Young, who replaces Gilbert Canton as Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission in Belize. Mr. Young is a graduate of the June 2003 PURC/World Bank International Training Program.
Congratulations to Dr. Canton in his new post as CEO of Belize Natural Energy. He is a graduate of the June 1999 PURC/World Bank International Training Program, as well as the first PURC/OOCUR Advanced Course in July 2006.
Mufor Atanga, Executive Secretary of the African Forum for Utility Regulators (AFUR), and a graduate of the June 2006 PURC/World Bank International Training Program, announces the addition of Mr. Symerre Grey-Johnson to the AFUR team as Advisor for Communications and Partnerships. Mr. Grey-Johnson is a graduate of the 21st PURC/World Bank International Training Program in January. Congratulations!
Congratulations to His Excellency Azmi Al-Said Khreisat, a graduate of the January 1998 PURC/World Bank International Training Program upon his appointment as the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources in Jordan.
Congratulations to Zsuzsanna Kósa, a graduate of the January 2001 PURC/World Bank International Training Program on her dissertation, "Regulation Strategy in the Communications Sector of Hungary," which received a cum laude evaluation. Dr. Kósa is a former regulator with the National Regulatory Authority and currently is a senior lecturer at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
Congratulations to Stefan Buehler, an Assistant Professor at the University of Zurich Socioeconomic Institute who has taught telecommunications sessions on service quality and non-price issues at both International Training Programs in 1998. He has been appointed by the Swiss government to the Swiss Competition Commission (the Swiss antitrust authority), beginning this month. Recent publications by Buehler include "The Promise and Pitfalls of Restructuring Network Industries," German Economic Review 6(2), 205-228 and "Deregulating Network Industries: Dealing with Price-Quality Tradeoffs," Journal of Regulatory Economics, forthcoming.
Congratulations to Hydajet Kopani, a graduate of the January 2001 PURC/World Bank International Training Program who has been elected by the Albanian Parliament as Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Entity-ERT.
Congratulations to Barrett Russell, a graduate of the June 2005 PURC/World Bank International Training Program, who has been named Executive Director of the Public Utilities Commission in the Bahamas.
Congratulations to Man Ho Au (class of 6/1997) was promoted to Director General, Office of Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), Wanchai, China in August 2003.
Congratulations to Willsman Ngaffison Tatangwa (class of 6/2003) was promoted to Chief of Service for the Department of Quality Control and Services at the Electricity Sector Regulatory Agency (ARSEL), Yaounde, Cameroon.
