Perhaps the word that best describes the current Canadian energy regulation landscape is “challenged”. The issues facing energy policy-makers and regulators are profound, described by many as “existential”[…]

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[…]

Public policy is all too often driven by a perceived need to respond urgently to a ‘crisis’ – to be seen to be doing ‘something’. Insufficient attention is sometimes paid to analyzing the real nature of the problem at hand, with the result that legislative and regulatory responses frequently overreach[…]

The Canadian energy regulatory framework continues to develop, increasingly characterized by unpredictability. The articles in this issue of Energy Regulation Quarterly include reviews of several significant recent and current developments at both the federal and provincial levels[…]

Each year when we write this Annual Review we marvel at how complex the industry has become only to find out that the following year makes the year before look tame. This year we had some assistance from south of the border when the new president turned many things on their head […]

The challenges that continue to confront Canadian energy regulation are multi-dimensional and complex. It is convenient, however, to address these challenges under three general, interrelated headings: public acceptance (or “social licence”); aboriginal consultation; and climate change. Articles in this issue […]