Utility Regulation in the States: The Policy Effects of Professionalism and Salience to the Consumer

This study explores the determinants of state regulatory commission policy in regards to electric utilities. We employ ratios of rate differentiation as indicators of the relative burden falling on have-not consumers of electricity in a state's population. Two variables are found to be useful in explaining variation in rate structure: the salience of regulation to the have-not consumer and the level of professionalism of the state commission. Commissions in states where regulation is more salient to the have-nots are found to be more protective of the interests of the have-nots in that state. Professionalism mediates this relationship between salience and commission policyOn the basis of this evidence, some tentative conclusions about the validity of the capture theory are drawn.