Raymond Gifford is a former state PUC chairman, think tank president, and First Assistant Attorney General. Through all these “formers,” he has learned a great deal about closely regulated industries from electricity to broadband to natural gas to railroads. His practice takes him to multiple places: state PUCs, state and federal courts, the FCC, and FERC.

As a recovering pedant, he insists that every regulatory issue confronted in the 21st Century has its precursor in 19th Century railroad regulation. The comforting part of that history is network industries – be it railroads, broadband networks, electric or gas systems – present the same regulatory dilemmas and admit the same regulatory solutions.  He has never seen a joint and common cost problem solved to his satisfaction, but figures that does wonders for job security.

While President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, Gifford studied the digital revolution and the regulatory challenges presented by newly emerging network industries.  He also co-founded the Institute for Regulatory Law and Economics, an annual seminar for state regulators and staff.

Gifford serves as an Executive Fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Law School, and regularly teaches a seminar on the law and economics of regulation.

His latest policy focus has been on the energy transition, and the regulatory institutions that are both driving and impeding that transition.