There is currently high interest in the emergent reorganization of market and regulatory structure in the United States’ electric energy sector. This article focuses attention on external organizational control structures and processes that have become institutionalized in that sector. It specifically addresses the organized environments in which public, quasi-public, and privately owned distributors of electricity have operated in recent history. An approach to analysis of the impact of past policy choices on organizational performance is presented using data envelopment analysis (DEA). It is concluded that DEA provides an interesting starting point for the comparative analysis of organizational performance.
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