NPR This is the indicator from Planet Money, I'm Darien Woods.

And I'm producer Cooper Katz-McCam here to talk one of my favorite topics, Power.

Yes, you are our resident energy expert. We're talking about electricity here, not about political

power, although there will be a little bit of that. You know, there is a desperate need for new

electricity transmission in the US to meet rising

demand for power and to decarbonize the economy. We are generating a lot of

power. There just isn't enough transmission infrastructure to get it where it needs to go,

especially when it comes to renewables.

To become a net zero emissions economy by 2050, as the Biden administration wants to do,

the US will need to roughly triple its existing transmission capacity.

But right now we're nowhere near close to meeting that goal.

There are a lot of questions that need answered before transmission can get built. What old

permitting look like? How will the costs be allocated? Another one, who will

build it? That last question, who is divisive and there's basically two options here

You've got one where the utilities who are already there getting the new projects by default

Or you could allow an outside developer in who can win the bid.

And these represent two distinct perspectives, whether we should use a monopoly or a competitive

model to develop new transmission.

The spy versus spy of our era.

Right.

Which method you choose may affect your electricity bill?

Today on the show we look at why competition is so controversial in this one sector

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