Preface

• Pages: xi-xiii

xi

PREFACE

The purpose of this handbook is to provide a basic background on

antitrust issues in the energy industry. The principal focus of the first

edition of this handbook was on electricity and natural gas. In our

second edition, however, we have broadened the scope to include more

sectors of the energy industry. Lawyers already familiar with antitrust

law will gain an understanding of related energy issues, the market

structure, and the application of the antitrust laws to these industries.

Lawyers and executives familiar with the energy industry, but not with

antitrust law, will find this book provides an understanding of the

antitrust laws applicable to energy.

The energy industry has been at the center of the development of the

antitrust laws. In particular, the oil industry has been the source of many

seminal antitrust cases, including United States v. Standard Oil Co. of

New Jersey,

1

United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co.,

2

and Standard Oil

Co. of California v. United States.

3

The electric and natural gas

industries also have contributed several seminal cases, such as Tampa

Electric Co. v. Nashville Coal Co.

4

and Otter Tail Power Co. v. United

States,

5

but have been subject to substantial if not complete antitrust

immunity in light of pervasive federal and state regulation until the

introduction of competition in the late 1980s and 1990s. Although the

electric and natural gas industries continue to be subject to less pervasive

regulation, new antitrust issues and concerns about “market

manipulation” have become the focus of scrutiny in the electric, natural

gas, and petroleum industries.

The nine chapters in this handbook cover a range of issues.

Chapter I provides an introduction to the energy industry. An extensive

glossary of terms relevant to the industry is also included as an appendix

to the book. Chapter II is an overview of the history of regulation and

deregulation of natural gas and electricity.

1. 221 U.S. 1 (1911) (the rule of reason).

2. 310 U.S. 150 (1940) (per se rule against price fixing).

3. 337 U.S. 293 (1949).

4. 365 U.S. 320 (1961).

5. 410 U.S. 366 (1973).