Michael Giberson, PhD

Michael Giberson is Senior Fellow, Energy at the R St Institute where he works on issues related to federal electric power policy and related energy policy topics.

For over 13 years he was on the faculty of the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University where he taught in the business economics and energy commerce programs. Previously he was a senior economist with Potomac Economics, and he has worked at George Mason University and Argonne National Lab. He has been published in Nature Energy, the Electricity Journal, the Journal of Regulatory Economics, the Pacific and Asian Journal of Energy, and Regulation magazine, and has written on U.S. energy policies and electric power for trade publications.

He received a BA in Economics from Texas Tech University, and an MA and PhD in Economics at George Mason University.

For many years Giberson was a regular contributor to Lynne Kiesling’s Knowledge Problem blog on economics, energy, and technology topics. You can find his contributions via this search link.

Currently blogging here at https://mgiberson.com/blog/. Note that material blogged here represents the views of Giberson only and not necessarily those of R St or other organizations he has worked with.

Publications, Commentary, Reports, Analyses

• “Op-ed: What constitutes price gouging? It’s complicated,” Crain’s New York Business, May 20, 2022. With James Hanley.
• Renewable Energy Standards Need Reform to Sustainably Support an Energy Transition, Conservative Energy Network, April 2022. [Press Release here.]
• “Wind project performance with age: Policy, technology, markets, and the maturing wind power industry,” Electricity Journal, 34:10 (2021). With Timothy Fitzgerald.
• “Texas Power Failures: What Happened in February 2021 and What Can Be Done,” policy brief published by the Reason Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, April 22, 2021.
• “Governance for Networks: Regulation by Networks in Electric Power Markets in Texas,” book chapter in Adam Hoffer and Todd Nesbit, eds., Regulation and Economic Opportunity: Blueprints for Reform. Center for Growth and Opportunity, Utah State Univ. 2021. With Lynne Kiesling.
• “Electric Competition in Texas: A Successful Model to Guide the Future,” paper distributed by the Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation, July 2020. With Lynne Kiesling.
• “The Consumer’s Interest in Reforming West Virginia’s Electric Power Industry,” January 2019, Strata. Logan, UT. With Patrick O’Reilly.
• “Integrating reliability-must-run practices into wholesale electricity markets,” October 2017, R Street Institute, Washington, DC.
• “The need for electricity retail market reforms,” Regulation, Fall 2017, 40(3). With Lynne Kiesling.
• “Adopt market-based measures to reduce conflict and boost revenues while protecting local environmental values,” in A New Landscape: 8 Ideas for the Interior Department, March 2017, Property and Environment Research Center, Bozeman, MT. With Shawn Regan.
• “Trump’s policy may undermine pro-growth intentions,” Nature Energy, October 2016, vol 1. no. 10.
• “Assessing wind power cost estimates,” October 2013, Institute for Energy Research, Washington DC. (Alt. link; Executive Summary only)
• “Magnifying calamity with man-caused disasters (Commentary),” The Washington Times, June 6, 2011, p. B1.
• “The problem with price gouging laws,” Regulation, Spring 2011, 34(1), 48-53.
• “Blackout economics,” book chapter in Andrew Kleit, ed., Electric Choices: Deregulation and the Future of Electric Power. Rowman and Littlefield, 2007. With Lynne Kiesling.
• “L’électricité: est-elle un bien public?” (“Network reliability in electric power: Is it a public good?”)  Revue de l’OFCE, 2007, Vol. 101, 399-420. With Evens Salies and Lynne Kiesling (in French).
• “Analyzing the Blackout Report Recommendations: Alternatives for a Flexible, Dynamic Grid.” Electricity Journal, July 2004, 17(6), 51-59.  With Lynne Kiesling.
• Retail Energy Deregulation Index, 2000 (March 2000, Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets). With Ken Malloy.
• “Cost of service regulation: Lessons from the US experience.” Pacific and Asian Journal of Energy, December 1995, 5(2), 165-73.  With RJ Sutherland.
• “Scale, Scope, and Regulation in the Texas Gas Transmission Industry.” Journal of Regulatory Economics, 1993, 5(1), 79-90.  With Jerry Ellig.

Presentations

• “Remarks on the Economics of New Large DC Ties,” Presented at the Workshop on ERCOT Planning and System Costs Associated with Renewable Resources and New Large DC Ties, Project No. 42647, Public Utility Commission of Texas, Austin, Texas, October 30, 2014.
• “Fuel Taxes in Texas: Principles for the Present and the Future,” Presentation at the Texas Public Policy Foundation conference Texas at a Turning Point, Austin, Texas, April 16, 2014.
• “Testimony on Renewable Power Mandates before the Public Utilities Committee of the Ohio State Senate,” Columbus, Ohio, November 13, 2013.
• “Wind Turbine Grid Integration and Model Validation in ERCOT and SPP,” Presentation at Windpower 2012, American Wind Energy Association, Atlanta, Georgia, June 4, 2012. (Presented by Richard P. Walker; Report co-authored with Walker and five others.)
• “Reliability of Power,” Presenter/panelist at the 5^th annual Texas Power Markets Forum, Houston, Texas, July 11-12, 2011.
• “Electric Network Reliability as a Public Good,” Presentation at CMU Conference: Electricity Transmission in Deregulated Markets: Challenges, Opportunities, and Necessary R&D Agenda, December 15-16, 2004; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With Lynne Kiesling.
• “Uniform Pricing at Power Market Seams: Economic and Political Considerations,” Presentation at NSF Workshop on Seams, October 29, 2004; Arlington, Virginia.