Annual Conference
For more than 30 years, our annual conference has served as a neutral forum for engaging dialogue about issues facing utility service providers, policymakers and regulatory agencies. The February event in Gainesville brings together key leaders in industry and academia, primarily from Florida and the Southeast.
PURC is registered with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation as a provider of continuing professional education programs. Each year, we apply to the DBPR for technical business CPE credit for conference sessions, as well as to the Florida Bar for general CLER credit for Florida law practitioners.
PURC Distinguished Service Award
Each year at the PURC Annual Conference, PURC honors an individual who has contributed to the understanding of regulatory economics and finance. The PURC Distinguished Service Award recognizes the cumulative impact of an individual's research and policy analyses on both the academic community and regulatory policymakers.
Past RecipientsGerald L. Gunter Distinguished Service Award
The Gerald L. Gunter Distinguished Service Award is presented jointly at our Annual Conference by PURC and the Florida Public Service Commission. It recognizes a Public Service Commission employee who has made a significant contribution to the development of regulatory policy.
The award is named after the late FPSC Commissioner Gerald L. Gunter, who was especially supportive of the relationship between the University and the Florida PSC. After his death in June 1991, the Gerald L. Gunter Memorial was established by his friends and colleagues. In addition to the Gunter Award, financial gifts enabled the establishment of the Gunter Professorship in the Warrington College of Business Administration. Richard Romano serves as the Gerald L. Gunter Professor of research in regulatory policy.
Past Conferences
"The Real Climate Change: Planning and Investing Under Uncertainty"
Armando Olivera
President, Florida Power & Light Company
"The Real Climate Change: Planning and Investing Under Uncertainty"
Slides
Jerry Paul
President & Managing Member, Capitol Energy LLC
"Can Nuclear Technology Meet Climate Policy Challenges?"
Slides
Nathan Hultman
Asst. Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
"Can Nuclear Technology Meet Climate Policy Challenges?"
Slides
Bill Taylor
Senior VP, NERA Economic Consulting
"Cable-Telco-Wireless Competition in Florida: Facts and Consequences"
Slides
Dave Sharp
Principal, Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company LLC
"Natural Gas as a Climate Change Bridge Fuel: Storage, Reliability, and Supply Options"
Slides
Mark Cook
VP, Commercial Operations, Southern Pines Energy Center
"Natural Gas as a Climate Change Bridge Fuel: Storage, Reliability, and Supply Options"
Slides
Bob Rowe
Senior Partner, Balhoff, Rowe & Williams LLC
"National Challenges in Universal Service: What Do They Mean for States?"
Slides
Shalini Vajjhala
Fellow, Resources for the Future
"Can We Green the Grid? Linking Transmission and Renewable Energy Policies"
Slides
Jeff Deyette
Energy Analyst, Clean Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
"Renewabel Electricity Standards: A Review of State Experience"
Slides
John Felz
Director, State Regulatory, Embarq
"Does Florida Have a Universal Service Problem?"
Slides
Will Cox
Attorney at Law, Abel Band, Chartered
"Does Florida Have a Universal Service Problem? Then and Now, 1998 to 2008"
Slides
Ava L. Parker
Attorney, Lawrence and Parker PA
"Does Florida Have a Universal Service Plan Problem?"
Slides
Ashley C. Brown
Executive Director, Harvard Electricity Policy Group
"The State of the U.S. Electricity Market: Competitive, Regulated, or Merely Confused and Paralyzed?"
Slides
"1907-2007, A Century of Utility Regulation: Looking Forward to the Next Hundred Years"
Following last year's conference that explored what we've learned during our 100 years of regulation in the United States, this year's event looks to the decades ahead. We know that new technologies, evolving policy initiatives, and changes in key input prices will alter the way infrastructure services are delivered in the future. Uncertain operating conditions and changing risk profiles of companies have financial implications for the cost and type of future infrastructure investments. These risks warrant attention as we consider likely scenarios in the years to come. One large source of uncertainty is potential climate change policy in the energy industry. Similarly, digital convergence and proposals for further deregulation create uncertainty regarding the likely structure of the telecommunications industry.
Our first session presents views from Wall Street: investor perceptions will affect the cost of capital and the type of investments that are viewed as financially sound. Technology investment choices have implications for the prices paid by Florida consumers and attributes of infrastructure service. In our electricity sessions, we'll explore climate change policy as well as the role of energy efficiency and demand-side management policies in meeting environmental concerns, security of supply, and investment needs. Our telecommunications sessions will focus on the effects of innovation and competition on investment and the contentious problem of universal service fund payments and allocations. There is no simple road map for the future, but good stewardship requires that we consider the implications of signposts that are beginning to appear along the way.
Robert C. AtkinsonDirector of Policy Research, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI)
"Financing Telecom Infrastructure: How Wall Street Sees Telecom"
Slides
Daniel F. Ford
Managing Director, Electric Utilities Research, Lehman Brothers
"Meeting Future Electric Needs"
Slides
Paul Cutler
Treasurer - Corporate Finance, FPL Group, Inc.
"Florida's Electricity Investment"
Slides
Paul McElroy
Chief Financial Officer, JEA
"Florida's Electricity Investment Needs"
Slides
Chris McDonald
Director of State Government Affairs, Comcast
"Competition Works. Consumers Win!"
Slides
Beth Shiroishi
Senior Director - Regulatory & External Affairs, AT&T
"New Technologies and Services in Telecommunications: Effects on Competition and Investment"
Slides
Kathleen Wallman
President, Wallman Consulting LLC
"New Technologies and Services in Telecommunications: Effects on Competition and Investment"
Slides
Karen Palmer
Darius Gaskins Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
"Realizing RGGI: Designing, Implementing and Expanding a Regional CO2Cap and Trade Program for the Electricity Sector"
Slides
Reid Harvey
Branch Chief, Climate Change Division, US Environmental Protection Agency
"Overview of U.S. and European Union Cap and Trade Programs"
Slides
Robert Loube
Director, Economic Research, Rhoads & Sinon Group, LLC
"What about Telecommunications Deregulation?"
Slides
William E. Taylor
Senior Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting
"Intermodal Competition and Telecommunications Deregulation in Florida"
Slides
David Dismukes
Professor and Associate Director, LSU Center for Energy Studies
"Regulatory Issues in Rate Design, Incentives & Energy Efficiency"
Slides
David Pickles
Vice President, ICF International
"Policies and Possibilities for Energy Efficiency from Electric and Gas Utilities"
Slides
Tom McCabe
Manager, State Regulatory Affairs, TDS Telecom
Greg Shafer
Public Utilities Supervisor, Florida PSC
The annual conference sessions were approved for 8 hours of continuing professional education credit by the Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation. Letters were mailed to attendees by March 30, 2007.
The sessions were also approved for 10 hours of General CLER Credit by the Florida Bar. A certificate of attendance was issued to each attendee at the event. More information is available via the Member Services page on The Florida Bar website.
More information
"1907-2007, A Century of Utility Regulation: Lessons We've Learned"
Nora Mead Brownell
Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
"Energy Policy in the US: What We've Learned and Future Directions"
Irene Flannery
Senior Vice President of Programs, The Universal Service Administrative Company
"USAC and the USF: Keeping Americans Connected"
Slides
Bob Gee
President, The Gee Strategies Group, LLC
"The Energy Policy Act of 2005: Redefining the Federal-State Relationship"
Slides
Allan Guyet
Director, Florida Energy Office, Dept. of Environmental Protection
"Florida's Energy Plan"
Slides
Bob Rowe
Senior Partner, Balhoff & Rowe, LLC
"Federal Universal Service"
Slides
John W. Mayo
Senior Partner, Balhoff & Rowe, LLC
"Reforming Universal Service"
Slides
Donald F. Santa, Jr.
President, Interstate Natural Gas Assoc. of America (INGAA)
"Natural Gas Regulation and Markets"
Slides
Sean Carton
Dean, School of Design + Media, Philadelphia University
"Always On: Connecting with Gen-Wired"
Slides
J. Alan Beamon
Director, Coal & Electric Power Division, Office of Integrated Analysis & Forecasting, Energy Information Administration
"Driving Forces Behind Generation Fuel Mix"
Slides
John W. Mayo
Professor of Economics, Business and Public Policy, Georgetown University
"The Evolution of Telecommunications Competition"
Slides
Susan N. Story
President and CEO, Gulf Power Company
"Securing Our Energy Future"
Slides
This course was approved for continuing professional education credit by the Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation. Letters were mailed to attendees by March 31, 2006. It was also approved for continuing legal education credit by the Florida Bar. The Bar has discontinued the use of CLE course attendance cards. Bar members are now able to report their own CLE credits online. A certificate of attendance was issued to each attendee at the event who wishes to claim CLE credits.
More information
"Emerging Technologies and Trends: Effects on Consumers, Industries and Regulators"
Severin Borenstein, Ph.D.
Director, University of California Energy Institute
Professor, Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley
"Innovation and Dynamic Pricing in Electricity Markets"
Slides
Robert Crandall, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
"Effects of Regulation on Adoption of New Technologies"
Slides
Bob Rowe, J.D.
Past President, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
"Leadership Challenges in Regulation"
Slides
Hethie Parmesano, Ph.D.
VP, National Economic Research Associates, Inc.
"Future Rate Cases & What You Need to Know"
Slides
Bob Rowe, J.D.
Past President, National Association of Regulatory Utility
"Future Rate Cases & What You Need to Know"
Slides
Bev DeMello
Asst. Director of Regulatory Compliance & Consumer Assistance,
Florida Public Service Commission
"Consumers & Technology: Changing Consumer Demographics"
Slides
John Horrigan, Ph.D.
Director of Research, Pew Internet Project
"Estimating Broadband Adoption"
Slides
Dallas Burtraw, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
"Environmental Policy for Electric Utilities: Looking Ahead"
Slides
Charles Goodman, Ph.D.
Senior VP, Research & Environmental Policy, Southern Company
"Economic Drivers of Current and Future Environmental Controls"
Slides
Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Telecommunication, University of Florida
"New Technology: Impacts on New Media"
Slides
Victor Glass, Ph.D.
Director of Demand Forecasting and Rate Development, NECA
"New Technology: Impacts on Telcos"
Slides
"When is Competition the Regulator?"
Both competition and regulation can stimulate good performance in an industry. Past conferences have addressed innovation, technological convergence, organizational restructuring, and residual regulation-all of which create citizen concerns over how oversight procedures address new developments. Today, technologies like voice over internet and distributed generation raise new public policy and managerial problems. So we return to a basic question: When is competition more effective than government intervention? This year's speakers will focus on issues of market power, environmental impacts, service quality, and consumer protection.
Dr. Robert M. Pepper
Chief Policy Development, FCC
"Current Issues and Priorities at the FCC"
William Massey
FERC Commissioner (1993- 2003)
"Regulation and Competition in Energy: Where Do We Go From Here?"
Dr. Elizabeth Bailey
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
"When can Traditional Regulation become Oversight and Market Monitoring?"
Braulio L. Baez, Rudolph "Rudy" Bradley, J. Terry Deason, and Charles M. Davidson
Commissioners, Florida Public Service Commission
"Roundtable Discussion of Regulatory Issues"
Current Issues: Market Imperfections and Energy Regulation
Moderator:
Dr. Diana L. Moss
Vice President and Senior Research Fellow, American Antitrust Institute
"The Evolving Role of Competition in Electricity Restructuring"
"In Search of an Electricity Restructuring Policy: Key Competition Issues in a 'Mid-Course Correction'"
Slides
Dr. Karen L. Palmer
Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
"Clearing the Skies More or Less: The Effects of Multi-pollutant Policies on the Electricity Sector"
Slides
"A Mercurial Reaction on Mercury?"
"The Effect of Allowance Allocation on the Cost of Carbon Emission Trading"
"Efficient Emission Fees in the U.S. Electricity Sector"
Current Issues: Voice over Internet in Telecommunications
Moderator:
Commissioner, Florida PSC
Consultant
"A Quick Introduction to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)"
Slides
Mike McKeehan
Verizon
John S. Rego
Chief Financial Officer, Vonage
Rick Cimerman
Senior Director, Telecommunications Policy, National Cable & Telecommunications Association
"Balancing Responsibilities and Rights: A Regulatory Model for Facilities-Based VoIP Competition"
Paper
H. William Habermeyer, Jr.
President and CEO, Progress Energy Florida
Jim W. Sichter
Vice President-Regulatory Policy, Sprint
"Telecommunications Industry Trends and Regulatory Challenges"
Slides
"The Role of Regulation in Changing Markets"
Introduction:
The 2003 PURC annual conference explored how market imperatives and regulatory policies interact. Regulation changes market behavior by affecting entry conditions, prices, and investment strategies. Conversely, a transformation in market behavior, often leads to a redefinition of regulatory responsibilities, including price reviews, incentive frameworks, approaches to engaging a wide array of stakeholders, in methods of evaluating corporate capital structures. The challenge for regulators is to evaluate changes in corporate policies and organizations, and modify regulatory tools to meet new conditions. Regulation changes and is changed by markets.
David Sappington
University of Florida
"Economics, Politics, and Regulatory Policy Formulation"
Robert E. Gramlich
Economic Advisor to FERC Chairman Wood
"RTOs and Market Design"
Lila Jaber, J. Terry Deason, Braulio Baez, Rudy Bradley, Charles "Chuck" Davidson
Commissioners, Florida Public Service Commission
"Roundtable Discussion of Regulatory Issues"
Robert C. Bellemare
CEO, UtiliPoint International
"Behind Today's Headlines"
Slides
Kurt Yeager
President and CEO, Electric Power Research Institute
"Behind Tomorrow's Headlines"
Slides
Stagg Newman
Senior Practice Expert, America's Telecom Practice, McKinsey and Company
"Broadband Access Platforms for the Mass Market: An Assessment"
Slides
William Lehr
Associate Director, MIT Research Program on Internet and Telecoms Convergence
"Broadband and Competition"
Related Paper
Panel Moderator:
Thomas Fanning
President and CEO, Gulf Power Co.
Alan Ciamporcero
President, Verizon
Educational Credit:
The material presented at the conference qualified for 5 hours of technical business CPE credit for Florida CPAs, 6 hours of general CLER credit for Florida law practitioners.
