S4E1: Former FERC regulator Bill Massey discusses the courts' expansive view of the Commission's statutory authority and pending cases before SCOTUS that may test whether that expansive view will 'have its wings clipped'

I was really happy that I got a chance to work with you for a year or two before you left FERC.

And yeah, and I came in to FERC right as the embers in California were still burning and SMD had already been pushed out the door.

Wow.

Yeah, you came in during the SMD era.

It was a brilliant idea, still the right thing to do.

It was just politically ahead of its time.

Well, you know, I mean, Pat was really pushing the rock uphill.

California to this day has tarnished competition on electricity.

And the common thought is, oh, well, that Enron thing is why we shouldn't have electricity restructuring.

And we've been kind of trapped midstream ever since.

Yes.

He and Nora Brownell were appointed to the commission and during the California crisis and we agreed to put a price cap in place to stop it in a soft cap in April of 2021 and then a hard cap in June and everything quieted down and Pat Wood walked down to my office shortly thereafter and he said, we can't ever let this happen again.

And I said, I agree, Pat.

We know what to do.

We both kind of in unison said, we really need to standardize these large wholesale markets.

We know how to do that.

We know the PJM model works reasonably well.

Well, we should organize the wholesale markets of the country according to that model.

We don't want to face this again with a homegrown market design.

The California market, as you recall, was unanimously passed by the legislature, designed in the state.

Of course, FERC approved many aspects of it.

We knew what would work better and decided to propose it.

When I was covering FERC, I remember distinctly a meeting.

Kurt Hebert was chairman.

I guess he was a protege at Trent Lott.

I was really happy that I got a chance to work with you for a year or two before you left FERC.

And yeah, and I came in to FERC right as the embers in California were still burning and SMD had already been pushed out the door.

Wow.

Yeah, you came in during the SMD era.

It was a brilliant idea, still the right thing to do.

It was just politically ahead of its time.

Well, you know, I mean, Pat was really pushing the rock uphill.

California to this day has tarnished competition on electricity.

And the common thought is, oh, well, that Enron thing is why we shouldn't have electricity restructuring.

And we've been kind of trapped midstream ever since.

Yes.

He and Nora Brownell were appointed to the commission and during the California crisis and we agreed to put a price cap in place to stop it in a soft cap in April of 2021 and then a hard cap in June and everything quieted down and Pat Wood walked down to my office shortly thereafter and he said, we can't ever let this happen again.

And I said, I agree, Pat.

We know what to do.

We both kind of in unison said, we really need to standardize these large wholesale markets.

We know how to do that.

We know the PJM model works reasonably well.

Well, we should organize the wholesale markets of the country according to that model.

We don't want to face this again with a homegrown market design.

The California market, as you recall, was unanimously passed by the legislature, designed in the state.

Of course, FERC approved many aspects of it.

We knew what would work better and decided to propose it.

When I was covering FERC, I remember distinctly a meeting.

Kurt Hebert was chairman.

I guess he was a protege at Trent Lott.