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Retail Suppliers Ask U.S. DOJ To Support Federal Legislation Which Would Impose "Specific Limitations On The Traditional Authority Of State And Local Governments" With Respect To Retail Energy Supply, Utilities
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A group of competitive energy advocates, in comments to a U.S. Department of Justice Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force, have requested that the DOJ recommend the adoption of federal legislation which would impose, "specific limitations on the traditional authority of state and local governments," in order to achieve retail energy choice
The comments were filed by the Retail Energy Advancement League, the Electric Power Supply Association, the Retail Energy Supply Association, and the [sic] Energy Professionals Association (collectively, the competitive energy associations or CEA)
Per the DOJ, the newly launched Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force was created to, "advocate for the elimination of anticompetitive state and federal laws and regulations that undermine free market competition and harm consumers, workers, and businesses."
"Realizing President Trump’s economic Golden Age will require unwinding burdensome regulations that stifle free market competition. This Antitrust Division will stand against harmful barriers to competition whether imposed by public regulators or private monopolists," said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
Per the DOJ, the Division sought information from the public about laws and regulations that make it more difficult for businesses to compete effectively, especially in markets that have the greatest impact on American households, including, as stated by the DOJ when the task force was launched earlier this year:
"Energy: Reliable and affordable energy is essential to modern American life -- whether in homes, businesses, manufacturing plants, schools, hospitals, sporting events, or data centers. Laws and regulations can undermine reliability and affordability by protecting incumbent electricity providers from competition or disruptive innovation."
In its comments, CEA cited the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 whose Section 332 imposed, "specific limitations on the traditional authority of state and local governments" in order to ensure that state and local regulatory barriers did not unreasonably hamper the deployment of physical telecommunications infrastructure such as cell towers.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act unleashed, "the greatest free-market success story in history," CEA said (quoting former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai), as CEA said, "The same success story could one day be told of the energy market in the United States."
CEA stated, "But presently, state barriers to entry all around the country prevent the competition that is critical to consumer choice, improved services, and innovative new technologies. Congress started down the road to eliminating such barriers in 1935, when it removed from state control the interstate transmission and wholesale sale of electric energy; gave jurisdiction over those markets to the predecessor to FERC, and tasked that agency with preventing utilities from imposing 'unreasonable rates' or committing 'undue discrimination' in those markets. It is high time that the barriers to the retail sale of electric energy are unshackled from such barriers as well. To this end, the Task Force should consider recommending legislative action to do so to Congress."
CEA said that DOJ, before Congress, should, "support efforts to enact [a] preemptive retail-choice law".
CEA also encouraged the DOJ to participate in FERC proceedings concerning co-located load, in order to prevent anti-competitive actions by monopoly utilities, and suggested that DOJ direct FERC to institute an anticompetitive task force of FERC's own
CEA also urged DOJ to take an active role in various state actions which have hampered electric competition
Among other things, CEA said that DOJ should
participate as an amicus curiae on behalf of the United States to support the challenge to the geographic renewable retail electricity restrictions under SB1 in Maryland, which are being challenged in federal court, as previously reported
CEA further said that DOJ should be active in various other state proceedings in which monopoly utilities seek to hinder competition through the adoption of new rules or tariffs, and in state-level legislative reforms to expand or introduce choice
CEA said, "The Task Force could seek to involve the in-state federal agencies in these proceedings to ensure a voice at the table pushing back against rent-seeking that raises costs, impedes competition, and inhibits innovation. And to ensure that those participating agencies do so, the Task Force may consider recommending to President Trump that he take executive action requiring all federal agencies appearing in state PUC proceedings to advocate only in accordance with the President’s energy agenda."
On a more granular level, CEA urged DOJ to support, among other things, the end choice caps in states such as California and Michigan, and to support to end certain policies which favor incumbent utilities in new electricity businesses, such as EV charging (such as through inclusion of EV-charging-technology deployment, etc in base rates)
The U.S. DOJ task force is Docket No. ATR-2025-0001
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"Support Efforts To Enact Preemptive Retail-Choice Law"
DOJ Notes, "Laws And Regulations Can Undermine Reliability And Affordability By Protecting Incumbent Electricity Providers From Competition Or Disruptive Innovation"
May 27, 2025
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Copyright 2025 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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