Energy and utility regulation in Alberta like oil and water?

Summary: The balance of this paper is devoted to the following: a brief, high level discussion of the theory of regulation; an overview of the history of energy resource and utility regulation in Alberta; a description of key phases in energy resource and utility regulation in Alberta; an assessment of the significant characteristics of the energy resource and utility regulators as they existed at the time of the 1995 merger; an examination of the policy and regulatory context for the 1995 merger of the PUB and the ERCB as well as for the 2008 split of the AEUB; and finally, a discussion of areas of potential strength and weakness in the current two-board model.