The electric utility industry

Changes in the electric utility industry over the last two decades have led to many topics for analysis, including fuel adjustment mechanisms, determination of avoided costs, bypass, and optimal contracts for utilities. Meanwhile, longer standing topics continue to be of interest including regulatory effects on efficiency, effective means of regulation, efficient pricing and scale economies, among others. In this introduction to the present special issue of Resources and Energy, major new and old strands of literature on the electric utility industry are assessed, and each of the articles appearing in this issue is discussed in light of the literature. This special issue contains examples of research on both the relatively recent problems and the pervasive, longdebated ones. Articles fall into three groups: prescriptive policy studies, input demand under rate-of-return regulation, and empirical regulatory studies.