Second, too many coal and nuclear plants that provide baseload power are being prematurely shuttered.

Third, policymakers have bought the notion that electricity is a commodity instead of an essential service. This notion is, in part, a legacy of Enron, a company that wanted to trade electricity in the same way that it traded natural gas and other physical commodities. Perhaps the best example of this misunderstanding of electricity can be traced to 1999 when the Texas Legislature debated a bill that would deregulate the Texas electricity market, a measure that Enron was pushing. (The bill passed.)