Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-282) and index.

Acknowledgments --
Introduction --
The past --
From start-up to disintegration --
Post-World War II electrification : recovery, growth, and prosperity --
Energy crisis : electricity becomes an increasing-cost industry --
The public utility holding company act of 1935 repealed --
amen --
Publicly owned utilities --
Summary --
The present --
Electric infrastructure : ownership and operation --
Electric industry policy --
Developing a strategy for the future --
Why a national strategy --
Electricity consumption --
Distribution system and distributed energy resources --
Wholesale power markets and transmission --
Power generation : large scale --
Advanced coal : IGCCc pluss CCS? --
Nuclear power : carbon-free option? --
Public power : a path forward --
Cross cutting issues --
A strategy for modernizing America's energy infrastructure --
Abbreviations and acronyms --
Bibliography --
About the author --
Index.

America's aging electricity infrastructure is deteriorating rapidly even as the need for highly reliable electric service - driven by the explosion of digital technology - continues to rise. Largely missing from national discussions, however, is a coherent, comprehensive national strategy for modernizing this critical infrastructure. Energy expert Mason Willrich presents just such a strategy in this book, connecting the dots across electric utilities, independent suppliers, government bureaucracies, political jurisdictions, and academic disciplines. He explains the need for a coherent approach, offers a framework for analyzing policy options, and proposes a step-by-step strategy for modernizing electrical infrastructure, end-to-end, in a way that ensures the delivery of affordable, reliable, secure, and environmentally sustainable electricity services. Willrich argues that an effective electrical infrastructure modernization strategy must incorporate flexibility, adaptability, and the capacity to coordinate policies at local, state, and federal levels. He reviews the history of America's electrification, from Edison's demonstration of the incandescent light bulb through the recent expansion of wind, solar, and energy efficiency as carbon-free energy resources. He describes the current ownership and operation of the electric industry and the complicated web of federal and state policies that govern it. -- from dust jacket.