Washington is full of regulators who remain mysterious entities to those outside the small circle of industry executives, lawyers and lobbyists whose work is impacted by its decisions. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is one of those regulatory bodies, which operates over much longer planning cycles than the election-oriented policymaking set out on Capitol Hill and in the White House’s West Wing.

Politicians pass and sign laws that, years later, are implemented by groups like FERC. The organization has its own lingo and its own priorities, and few understand them better than Breaking Energy correspondent Dipka Bhambhani. Here she discusses the commission’s efforts to establish a price for a “negawatt,” essentially a unit of electricity that goes unused.

After listening, be sure to check out Dipka’s story, “Money For Nothing, But Your Power Won’t Be Free.”