A long-standing debate over the appropriate pricing regime for the California electricity markets appears to be resolved. In the July release of its Standard Market Design and Structure (SMD) Notice, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) mandated that all US electricity regions adopt a nodal – as opposed to zonal – pricing model by 2004. Although much of the market design proposal is still being deliberated during the current comment period, nodal pricing seems to be a fait