Jonathan Lesser

Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute

Dr. Jonathan Lesser is the President of Continental Economics, Inc. and has over 35 years of experience working for regulated utilities, governments, and as an economic consultant. He has extensive experience in resource planning, risk management, cost-benefit analysis of energy and environmental policies, resource/contract valuation and damages analysis, and due diligence.

He has analyzed economic and regulatory issues affecting numerous facets of the energy industry, including risk management strategies for regulated natural gas and electric utilities, cost-benefit analysis of transmission, generation, and distribution investment, gas and electric utility structure and operations, generating asset valuation under uncertainty, mergers and acquisitions, cost allocation and rate design, resource investment decision strategies, utility financing and the cost of capital, depreciation, risk management, incentive regulation, economic impact studies of energy infrastructure development, and general regulatory policy.

Dr. Lesser has prepared expert testimony and reports in cases before utility commissions in numerous US states; before the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); before international regulators in Latin America and the Caribbean; and in commercial litigation cases. He has also testified before the U.S. Congress, and legislative committees in numerous states on energy policy and market issues. Dr. Lesser has also served as an independent arbiter in disputes involving regulatory treatment of utilities and valuation of energy generation assets, as well as in commercial damages proceedings. He is also an Adjunct Fellow with the Manhattan Institute, where he researches energy policy issues.

Dr. Lesser is the author of numerous academic and trade press articles. He is the coauthor of three textbooks: Environmental Economics and Policy (1997), Principles of Utility Corporate Finance (2011), and Fundamentals of Energy Regulation (2007; 3rd Edition, 2019).

Archives

Do Green Energy Subsidies Work?

Jonathan Lesser
September 11, 2024
Like the Jeopardy! game show, green energy subsidies have been Congress’ answer to every energy policy question. The first OPEC oil embargo of 1973-74 catalyzed decades of energy policy, including the formation of the Department of Energy. Wind, solar, and hydropower subsidies began in earnest with the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act of 1978. Similarly, subsidies for corn-based ethanol were enacted as part of the National Energy Conservation Policy Act of 1978. Both were designed to reduce the country’s dependence on Middle East oil. The PURPA subsidies set off a race by independent developers to construct small generating plants whose output electric utilities were required to purchase at administratively set prices. In some cases, the subsidies were independent of …

Electrification Without the Infrastructure

Jonathan Lesser
July 24, 2024
As state and federal policies mandate the electrification of virtually all end uses to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels. For example, 18 states have adopted California’s Advanced Clear Car II rules requiring increasing percentages of new vehicle sales to be EVs, reaching 100% for the 2035 model year. In 2019, New York City enacted Local Law 97, which requires all residential buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to convert to electricity by 2035. Other states, such as New Jersey seek to convert all residential heating to electricity. Together, mandates for electric vehicles (EVs) and electrification of space and water heat will likely double electricity consumption and peak demand. Coupled with policies that mandate supplying the nation’s electricity with …

The Shakedown That Is Vermont’s New Climate Superfund Law

Jonathan Lesser
June 12, 2024
Long viewed as a playground for environmentalists, Vermont has jumped the climate change shark with its new Climate Superfund law. If not halted by judges who reject its dubious legal basis, this shark promises to deliver a severe blow to the state’s economy that will harm the “ordinary Vermonters” proponents claim the law will help. The new law is modeled after the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, which created a “Superfund” to clean up hazardous waste sites. Under the original Superfund law, companies and any predecessors that dumped hazardous wastes are required to pay the actual cleanup costs for those sites.  In contrast, under the Vermont law, U.S. fossil fuel producers and their successors — companies that mined …

The (Anti) Social Cost of Carbon

Jonathan Lesser
May 7, 2024
Forty-two was the mystical number that explained “life, the universe, and everything” in Douglas Adams’ comic novel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Today, another mystical number, the so-called social cost of carbon (SSC), is providing the excuse for the Environmental Protection Agency and green-energy-enamored state regulators to enact crippling energy policies. The SCC is the thumb on the scale that can justify virtually any policy aimed at eliminating fossil fuels. When the EPA first proposed its rule to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, the agency’s cost-benefit analysis determined the benefits would be minuscule. Any putative benefits, it turns out, would come instead from reductions in carbon emissions and, here’s the key, based on a …

State’s Climate Act Isn’t Worth Price We’re Paying

We're paying among the highest prices for gas, but the reduction in carbon emissions will be minimal.
Jonathan Lesser
August 12, 2023
Washington state’s 2021 Climate Commitment Act (CCA), although high-minded in spirit, will do nothing to protect the state’s economy and environment from the effects of climate change. But what the CCA is already doing is burdening state residents and businesses with higher energy costs.