Investing Topics: Regulated Utilities

These days, it seems every major US energy project is at risk to dissonant state and federal rules, regulatory delays and court challenges to permits. In fact, US energy companies might be excused for thinking America’s true energy policy is no longer “all of the above” but none.

It seems California Governor Gavin Newsom will not preside over a utility collapse as former Governor Gray Davis did almost 20 years ago, thanks to a legislative fix to state utilities’ bottomless liability for wildfire damages.

Almost 20 years ago, dysfunctional rules for California’s unregulated power market drove the state’s two biggest electric utilities into bankruptcy and impacted the entire sector. This year, the "inverse condemnation" rule has triggered one bankruptcy filing and may push the state's other electric utilities' ratings toward junk.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) has struggled in building America’s first new nuclear power plant since the 1980s. But CEO Tom Fanning is more confident than ever.