Initiatives to address climate change continue to permeate developments in energy regulation, with significant implications for both regulators and the industries they regulate[…]

Natural gas plays a central role in various initiatives aimed at moving towards reducing carbon emissions. That role, however, sometimes appears inconsistent, indeed self-contradictory. On the one hand, as the cleanest-burning, lowest carbon-emitting of the hydrocarbon fuels, wider use of natural gas is often promoted as a “bridging fuel,” particularly to replace the burning of coal[…]

Canada may soon receive the worldwide prize for being the most difficult jurisdiction to build energy projects in. This is particularly the case with pipelines. In the last five years, investors have walked from four major projects. In total they accounted for over $50 billion in investment.

As has been observed before in Energy Regulation Quarterly, developments resulting from technological innovation in energy production and distribution raise important policy/regulatory issues.[…]

Restructuring of the Alberta electrical power market, which began in the late 1990s, continues to evolve. In the lead article in this issue of Energy Regulation Quarterly, “A Tale of Two Market Designs: What’s New in Alberta”, Bob Heggie discusses the current initiative to reshape the role of market forces in the wholesale electricity market through the introduction of an administered capacity market, while the Alberta Utilities Commission is examining whether and how market forces can be brought to bear in the, traditionally monopolistic, distribution infrastructure function[…]

Each year when we write this Annual Review we face the same issues. The first issue on the list is always pipelines. In the 2016 Annual Review the first heading was “The Pipeline Delays are Over”. Last year, the first heading of the review was “Pipeline Delays are Back”. This year, the first heading is “Pipeline Delays Continue”[…]