I attended an electricity conference in NY yesterday. It's always good to get a reality check from the investment community. The major take-away (not surprisingly): the "back-to-basics" companies - i.e., those that have stayed with the vertically integrated utility model - have been the most successful, while companies that have ventured into new areas have had problems. Policy makers might also do well to take the traditional vertically integrated world as a baseline - and be prepared to demonstrate that the net benefits of their proposals, relative to that baseline, are positive.