Electric intelligence: establishing a smart grid requires regulatory reform, not subsidies

Reason, June, 2009 by Lynne Kiesling

The obsolete electro-mechanical electric power network, built by and for a monopoly industry, cannot support the kind of growth experienced during the last 20 years in so many other industries. All that stands in the way of vibrant, customer-friendly electricity products and services is an outdated infrastructure run by hesitant monopolies and regulated by bureaucrats with little incentive to improve things. We can do smarter.

Lynne Kiesling (lynne@knowledgeproblem. com) is a senior lecturer in the Department of Economics and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a member of the GridWise Architecture Council. She blogs at knowledgeproblem.com.