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Larry Blank

Larry Blank

Department: Economics, Applied Statistics, and International Business

Title: Professor/Associate Director of the Center for Public Utilities

Expertise: Economics
Contact:
(575) 642-6148
GU 401 A
View CV

Bio

  • Served as an expert advisor or expert witness in over 150 rate cases and rulemaking proceedings on behalf of government agencies, regulatory commissions, utility companies, and utility customers.
  • Helped design and deliver over 30 training courses on public utility policy, regulation, and ratemaking.
  • Academic publications have appeared in the Review of Industrial Organization, the Journal of Regulatory Economics, the Electricity Journal, and other journals.
  • Past Professional Employment
    • Principal Consultant, TAHOEconomics, LLC, 1999-present.
    • USDOE/USAID Project Director for Technical Assistance to the Energy Regulatory Commission of the Philippines, 2001-2003.
    • Manager of Regulatory Policy & Market Analysis, Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, 1997-1999.
    • Supervising Economist, Public Service Commission of Nevada, 1996–1997.
    • Economist, National Regulatory Research Institute, the Ohio State University, 1994–1996.

Education

Ph.D. in Economics, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, August 1994.

  • Dissertation: “Political Economy and Public Utility Inefficiency.”


B.S. in Economics/Mathematics, Minnesota State University, Bemidji, Minnesota, May 1989.

Scholarly and Creative Activity

Published Peer-Reviewed Articles and Selected Reports

"An Enhanced Two-Part Tariff Methodology When Demand Charges Are Not Used," (with Doug Gegax). The Electricity Journal, Volume 29, No. 3 (2016).

"Residential Winners and Losers behind the Energy vs. Customer Charge Debate," (with Doug Gegax). The Electricity Journal, Vol. 27, No. 4 (2014), pp. 31-39.

"Benchmarking Electric Distribution Utilities in the Philippines," (with Doug Gegax and Ben Widner). Asian Social Science, Vol. 8, No. 3 (2012).

"Objectively Designing Shared Savings Incentive Mechanisms: An Opportunity Cost Model for Electric Utility Efficiency Programs," (with Doug Gegax). The Electricity Journal, Vol. 24, No. 9 (2011), pp. 31-40.

"Endogenous Regulatory Constraints and The Emergence of Hybrid Regulation," (with John Mayo). Review of Industrial Organization, Vol. 35 (2009), pp. 233-255.

"Promotions as Coopetition in the Soft Drink Industry," (with Mike Hyman and Michael Meade). Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, September, 2009.

"A Dynamic Model of Insurgency: The Case of the War in Iraq," (with C.E. Enomoto, D. Gegax, T. McGuckin, and C. Simmons), Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2008.

"The Role of Regulation in Expanding Access to Electricity: Reform in the Philippines," (with Mk Shean), Energy Update, Issue No. 4, 2005.

"Open Entry and Local Telephone Rates: The Economics of IntraLATA Toll Competition," (with David Kaserman, John Mayo, and Simran Kahai), Review of Industrial Organization, Vol. 14, No. 4, June 2000, pp. 303-319.

"Dominant Firm Pricing with Competitive Entry and Regulation: The Case of IntraLATA Toll," (with David Kaserman and John Mayo), Journal of Regulatory Economics, Vol. 14, 1998, pp. 35-53.

"Concavity Assumptions in Regulatory Models and the Capital Waste Controversy," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Vol. 9, 1996, pp. 95-100.

"Key Antitrust Pricing Issues for Regulated Industries with Emerging Competition," NRRI Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 17, No. 2, 1996, pp. 279-298.

"Telephone Vouchers: Experiences in Other Markets," NRRI Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 16, No. 4, 1995, pp. 537-547.

Working Papers

“The FERC’s Vintage and Original Purpose Doctrine for Transmission Pricing:
Distorted Economics and Economic Distortions,” (with Doug Gegax). Revised and resubmitted to
Utilities Policy.

“Can Regulators Stop the Tax Bleeding of Universal Service Support?” (with Bill Smith and
Lucinda Blume).

“Utility Cost Allocation and Estimated Employment Impacts,” (with D. Gegax and C.
Erickson).

Selected reports

Telecommunications Service Quality (with V.W. Davis, D. Landsbergen, R.W. Lawton, N.
Zearfoss, and J. Hoag), National Regulatory Research Institute, The Ohio State University,
Columbus, March 1996.

Telecommunication Infrastructure Investments and State Regulatory Reform: A Preliminary
Look at the Data (with Vivian Davis and Catherine Reed), The National Regulatory Research
Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, December 1994.

Considerations in Preparing and Reviewing Socioeconomic Impact Assessments for Low-Level
Waste Disposal Facilities (with Mary English, Matthew Murray, and Zoe Hoyle), for the U.S.
Department of Energy. National Low-Level Waste Management Program, EG&G Idaho, Inc., Idaho
Falls, Idaho: August 1992.

Economic Impact of Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc. on Barnwell County, South Carolina (with
Matthew Murray), for the U.S. Department of Energy. Energy, Environment and Resources Center,
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, November 1990.

Gegax, D. A.. Blank, L. R. “An Analysis of Reclassifying Residential Electric Utility Customers
with On-Site Small Solar PV Facilities: The Case of El Paso Electric,” Technical Report for the New
Mexico Attorney General (August, 2015)

Blank, L., and Gegax, D.A., “Estimated Net Employment Impacts due to changes in Electric Cost
Allocation between Rate Classes,” Technical Report for the Hospitals and Higher Education Group
in Arkansas (November 2015).

Grants

U.S. Department of Energy, Technical Assistance to the Energy Regulatory Commission of the
Philippines, January 2002 – January 2005.

U.S. Department of Energy, Sustainable Energy Development Program (Philippines), January 2005 –
August 2005. Completed the Open Access Distribution Service Rules governing 140 electric
distribution utilities.