ABSTRACT
The success of the nation's efforts to increase the efficiency of energy use and the use of renewable energy resources and domestic fuel is dependent in great measure on the practices and decisions of the state public utility commissions. Public utility commissions viewed themselves in their traditional rate-setting roles, with little understanding of the policy implications of their decisions. There has come to be an understanding, a "social contract", outlining the rights and responsibilities of public utilities. Electric companies are given an exclusive franchise area in which to sell their services. The implementation of changes, however, required a substantial amount of analysis and experimentation. The leadership for such changes, as is often the case in public utility matters, came from a few states, notably New York, Wisconsin, and California. President Jimmy Carter therefore proposed, as part of his National Energy Act package, a bill which was to become the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978.
