Regulated Monopoly

Yes, remember that term, "Regulated Monopoly"? I remember it well having worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years in the "unregulated" paging and cell phone industry after the US system of market duopoly with ass backwards analog technology finally opened up leaving us a minimum of 5 years behind the rest of the developed world. The telecom companies who were regulated monopolies were the worst run companies in the nation, keeping Americans in mid 20th century telecommunications all the way through the Internet creation and evolution as a consumer accessed network that became what it is today. Dealing with them was like dealing with the Kremlin. To this day, America is 5 to 10 years behind other developed nations like S. Korea, Germany, Japan, Singapore etc. in it's telecommunications infrastructure.

So, what I read today from the power industry side was stirring. I can tell you for sure, America's regulated monopolies, the power companies, were just as bad throughout the history of power in America. The problem we have today is as our impotent government "deregulated" the telecommunications and power industries they did so by rubber stamping plans created by the pigs (think tanks, "non-profit" corporate funded institutions and directly from the companies themselves) legislation that did nothing more than deregulate the regulated pricing mechanisms without allowing any competition to gain access to the infrastructure or industry on reasonable terms or at profitable prices. Competitors were sued and the weakly written legislation was challenged in court by the very industries who were "deregulated" using their limitless lawyer bank accounts managing to overturned any hint of "real" competition written into the toothless laws.

I could go on and on just using the pathetic example of the "deregulation" of Constellation Energy in the Mid Atlantic / Maryland market (BGE is our local distributor here) and how it hamstrung any potential competitor for 10 years after the signing of the peace of s*(& legislation. One could also write a dissertation on the "deregulation" of Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) on the same basis.

So why am I babbling about this today? You may have read my previous post about the infrastructure needs to bring power from non fossil fuel creation sites around the US to the population centers where the energy is needed most. Well I read this fascinating quote today from Pepco, also a Mid Atlantic area old regulated monopoly (focusing on other parts of Maryland and Washington, DC):

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POM) today filed applications with the Public Service Commission of Maryland for authorization to construct the Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP), a 230-mile 500-kilovolt electric transmission system that will deliver a much-needed boost in system capacity and electric reliability to customers in Maryland and other states in the Mid-Atlantic region.

"This project is vital for ensuring that stable, reliable electricity will be available throughout the region, including the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area and the Delmarva Peninsula," said William M. Gausman, PHI Senior Vice President for Asset Management and Planning.

"No major line has been added to the electric transmission backbone in the Mid-Atlantic region in decades, yet the population of the region has risen dramatically and electricity consumption per household has grown significantly," Gausman continued. "The system is stressed. Without MAPP, the region will be exposed to increased risk of experiencing brownouts and blackouts in the future."

OK, so why hasn't a major line been added to the region in "decades" (hence we are in mid 20th century transmission grid)? You PIGS ran the damn grid!

Well deregulation has been around for over a decade in most areas now and it seems that the regulated monopoly model, "suck the cash out of your customer by squeezing as much profit as possible from your third world "network", "distribution system", "generation system" without investing a dime in the future" may be breaking down not unlike the complete implosion of our antiquated ass backwards economic / financial system that was also "deregulated" about 10 years ago along the same line with the same toothless poorly written legislation. Crazy thing is, Pepco is bold enough to stand up and say as much publicly.

These people should be sent to the desert in California to plant rice.