The patchwork system contained many perverse incentives. Rich producing wells were left to expire because producers had no incentive to maintain them, while investments poured into very small wells that would never make a difference to the nation's energy future. Today generators of electricity face an equally complicated set of controls. Some independent power firms are effectively exempt from controls and sell their power at the highest possible price. For example, in California, Southern California Edison's large nuclear unit receives only 3 cents per kilowatt hour, while some of the small, unregulated older plants owned by the generating companies receive 50 cents.
Some firms even own both uncontrolled and controlled plants.
It gets worse. In 1979 U.S. allies called for the removal of price controls to bring down the price of oil. The critics asserted that the controls raised the world's demand for oil while depressing production by those outside the OPEC cartel. The consequence was a higher price for oil. Today electricity price controls have the same effect.