Monopsnimby: An Ambivalent Florida Faces Its Energy Future

Author’s Note: "Monopsnimby" is a compound noun from the combining of "monopsony” and “NIMBY” or “Not in My Back Yard." It is used here to describe an energy (or other) market controlled by a small number of major buyers and anyone else who bothers to get organized. (source: Pace)

State and federal energy policy formulation is, at its essence, the ongoing attempt to reconcile the usually irreconcilable in the face of a changing geopolitical, economic and social environment. There are three main drivers evident in the decades-long policy debate and currently advocated prescriptions for the “best” energy policy.
As shown in Figure 1, the relative weights given these three often-competing vectors determine policy outcomes both in institutional contexts (Congress, state public utility commissions) and public opinion as reflected in the millions of choices made daily on personal comfort, convenience and mobility vs. financial and social cost. The plausible net expressions of these three drivers form the foundation of the energy market scenarios Pace develops to help clients assess the current and future risks and opportunities they may face in pursuing both public and private objectives.

Figure 1: Conflicting And Complementary Goals Of National Energy Policies.

These forces can promulgate rapid – if not always wise – social change when they converge and social paralysis when they don’t, often at no small peril to the very citizenry who public officials and industry planners seek to protect and serve. The curious case of Florida’s natural gas and power industry is a poster child for political gridlock when enduring energy infrastructure challenges confront public ambivalence, political expediency and corporate obstinacy.

Florida: The Exceptional State
In terms of energy supply, infrastructure and planning, the State of Florida is a unique distillation of the debate over energy security, cost and environmental impact now being conducted by the nation (and the world) at large. Consider: