Nicholas E. Powers

Dr. Powers specializes in conducting econometric and economic analysis and applying concepts from industrial organization and regulatory economics in competition, regulatory, and other litigation matters.

His broad experience includes estimating cartel impacts in large-scale price-fixing cases, anticompetitive effects resulting from a proposed merger, and price effects of competitor entry and exit in proposed joint ventures. Dr. Powers regularly provides economic analysis of cartel behavior and also has experience analyzing exclusionary practices. Additionally, he conducts similar econometric work in antitrust and regulatory matters in the electric, postal, transportation, and other industries.

Dr. Powers has extensive experience conducting analysis for and submitting expert reports in regulatory proceedings. This includes the extensive analysis of regression-based costing models in the postal industry, econometric analysis of innovative pricing programs in the electric industry, rate of return analysis in the telecommunications industry, and econometric analysis of the renewable fuels market. He has also acted as both an independent evaluator and an advisor to several procurement processes in the electricity sector.

In other energy-related matters, Dr. Powers has conducted several key analyses of price effects, market power, and anticompetitive behavior. He supported expert testimony in three separate litigation proceedings arising from the California electricity crisis of 2000–2001. He has also overseen the statistical analyses in several New Source Review cases and performed damages and other analyses in energy-related litigation proceedings. For the Department of Energy, Dr. Powers coauthored two reports for the on electric grid infrastructure and approaches to valuation of various grid assets, and for multiple clients he has analyzed retail electric market conditions and regulatory developments. He has also estimated the cost and feasibility of renewables-only energy portfolios.