IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2018 - 86

history

Rock Brynner

taking on the dark side
public power & the regulation of private utilities

D

DecaDes before the New York
Power authority (NYPa) delivered its
first power in 1958, the company helped
shape the future of american energy
generation and distribution as far west
as washington state and to the southern
reaches of the tennessee Valley. NYPa's
significance today remains much greater
than the low-cost electricity that it generates from its st. Lawrence and Niagara
hydropower plants (and 14 smaller facilities, some driven by natural gas and oil).
the exquisite hydro plant in figure 1
symbolizes the contribution of regulation
and public power to the electric power
industry. In figure 2, the seeming insignificance of the dam, dividing sky from
water, is symbolic of how regulation and
public power helped balance the creative
tension between public interest and private profit. Indeed, when New York Governor franklin D. roosevelt (fDr) created the NYPa in the spring of 1931, he
aimed to make it a yardstick to measure
the early investor-owned utilities (IoUs)
mostly controlled by J.P. Morgan's "holding companies," which dominated the
nation's power providers.
but early public power arose for
more fundamental reasons than cost-effectiveness. outdoor lighting in several
american towns was launched by nonprofit municipal cooperatives, mostly
in small communities not profit-worthy
enough to attract private utilities. In
1880, citizens in wabash, Indiana, lit
the courthouse with four powerful arc
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2017.2779555
Date of publication: 21 February 2018

86

ieee power & energy magazine

Past "History" columns were written by engineers with a passion for history. Rock
Brynner is an oddity-a genuine credentialed historian (with a Ph.D. degree from
Columbia University) and philosopher (B.A. and M.A. degrees from Trinity College, Dublin). He has been a communication specialist with the New York Power
Authority and a member of the N.Y. State Task Force on Life and the Law since
2012. He has written six books. Our readers will especially enjoy his latest, Natural
Power: The New York Power Authority's Origins and Path to Clean Energy (2017).
In this outstanding column, he weaves the fascinating tale of how regulation and
public power withstood the dark side of the immense value of electric power-the
lure of extreme profits by monopolistic abuse-while allowing it to attract capital.
It is history for the United States and very today for much of the world.
Hyde M. Merrill
Associate Editor

figure 1. The Niagara Power Project. (Used with permission from NYPA.)
1540-7977/18©2018IEEE

march/april 2018



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2018

Contents
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2018 - Cover1
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2018 - Cover2
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2018 - Contents
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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2018 - Cover3
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