Institutionalizing “the Public Interest” in Public Utility Regulation: Harry M. Trebing and the Second Wave of Reform

Abstract: John R. Commons and colleagues established the basic model for independent public utility regulation in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, based on documented market and public interest failures. After limited success and repeated failures in the implementation of regulation, Harry M. Trebing and others at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the late 1960s and 1970s revised and strengthened the model as well as the implementation capabilities of regulators, based on the regulatory weaknesses and unique opportunities for reform in the telecommunication industry. This model was then adapted to improve the regulation of other public utilities. Whereas the new model has also had limited success, the experience accumulated through it has prepared the ground for an inevitable third wave of regulatory reform.