SMNR: Electric Power Law, Policy, and Transactions
Semester: Spring 2016
Course ID: 397S
Credit Hours: 3
Unique: 28759
Course Information
Course Type: Seminar
Grading Method:
Pass/Fail Allowed (JD only)
Registration Information
Upperclass-only elective
Meeting Times
Day
Time
Location
MON
3:45 - 5:35 pm
TNH 2.124
Evaluation Method
Type
Date
Time
Location
Paper
Description
Electric Power Law, Policy, and Transactions
This three-credit seminar course will survey the most prominent current legal issues affecting the electric power industry. Taught by two practicing attorneys (with a combined total of over 35 years experience in the electric power industry), the course will explore real world examples of M&A transactions in the industry, the financing and development of power plants, energy regulation and the ongoing evolution of certain deregulated markets, and the rate cases by which utility rates are determined. The majority of our class meetings will feature prominent guest speakers who work in and provide counsel to the electric power industry.
The class will begin with a history and overview of the electric industry both nationally and in Texas and will include a grounding in the primary federal and state statutes that govern the industry. We will move quickly into actual case studies of transactions, rate cases, and project development, and we will conclude with a series of presentations on the outlook for regulatory changes in the industry and the implications for electric utilities and the related legal practices, including sessions on policy-making, climate change, environmental regulation, and the political and economic implications of varying regulatory schemes. Classes will include a discussion of both traditional fossil-fueled power generation as well as clean-tech, renewables, and nuclear power.
Tomsu, Michael J. 
Diffen, Rebecca H. 