Among large investor-owned utilities, Houston-based Reliant Energy has been one of the leaders in moving towards competitive wholesale and retail markets. And Joe Bob Perkins has been a high-profile advocate of deregulation in the past few years.

“There have been, and will continue to be, major changes shaping the energy market-place,” says Perkins. “These changes impact both the traditional utility delivery businesses and the new unregulated merchant energy services businesses. Some of the