The AI Power Boom Is Reopening the Public Utility Debate

Following the June 2026 primary elections in NYC, in which democratic socialist Mayor Mamdani's preferred slate enjoyed considerable electoral success, much has been written about the political implications. Our take is really simple. The last time the democratic socialists gained power, especially in major US cities, many of their policies were adopted by Progressives or New Dealers. In either case, that meant a far more intrusive regulatory environment for utilities. The Progressives laid the foundation for our existing regulatory apparatus with scrutiny over operations and capital funding, while the New Deal experimented with outright public ownership as a means of reducing the influence of investor-owned monopolies such as the Southern Company. And now we've had roughly 100 years of experience with Progressive administrative reforms and 80-plus years with New Deal-inspired public ownership of utility assets. To us the results are pretty clear. Regulatory agencies were initially created, with the best of intentions, to represent the public's interest versus powerful monopolies. Due to regulatory capture (i.e. domination of administrative proceedings by wealthy corporate interest

Fuente original: Yahoo Finance (https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/ai-power-boom-reopening-public-190000361.html)