Why Are Our Electric Utilities Structured Like This?
Have you ever wondered how the electric utility industry works? Or why its financing, business practices, technologies, resources, and regulatory structures look the way they do in various places around the country? The history of utilities in the United States is filled with controversy and compromise. Understanding that history can reveal what’s possible for political action today at the local, state, or federal level.
Join MNIPL and Ben Kodres-O’Brien, who will share his insights about the industry’s history—and how that history could or could not inform efforts of policymakers, activists, and other changemakers in Minnesota and beyond.
Ben is a PhD Candidate at Columbia University. His dissertation examines the history and political economy of the electric utility industry, and how past policies have affected and been limited by the diverse mix of technologies and generating resources in use within the United States.