Over the last 150 years, American use of electricity moved from theory to engineering and from a luxury product to a necessary good, redefining how we understand our individual and collective relationship with power along the way.  The way we have historically discussed electricity and used it to accomplish public objectives tracks several “waves” of electrification as a social construct.  These new waves, while distinct, share a common element: each began at the intersection of innovation and investment, where experience stretched our understanding of the benefits electricity could deliver to the public.  The first wave of electrification can be categorized in terms of technology and basic delivery, with the public understanding electricity as a luxury item.  The second wave formed as society gained insight into the socioeconomic benefits that accompanied electricity, transitioning from a luxury good to a basic right.  The belief that electrification is a necessity to be extended to all citizens was a hallmark of the Progressive Era and facilitated widespread investments in America’s energy infrastructure.  This article posits that the United States is now entering a third wave of electrification, one where we understand electricity not only as a universal service, but also as a mechanism for positive societal outcomes, namely the transition to a lower carbon future.

Part I evaluates the first two waves of electrification, starting with the introduction of electricity as a consumer product and transitioning to electrification as a basic right.  Part II discusses the American regulatory framework which provides for government oversight of areas deemed to be “of the public interest.”  Electric public utilities have participated in and been shaped by this public interest tradition through investments in energy infrastructures that deliver power to the public.  Although public utilities and electric power providers operate today within a patchwork of regulatory regimes—including a mix of regulated and deregulated markets in the United States—this article focuses on the common ancestry of electric utilities as understood by the early twentieth century progressive framework of regulated public utilities.³  Part III evaluates the rhetoric emerging around climate change and how an increasingly common understanding of climate risk is redefining public interest to include decarbonization.  Part IV argues that this public discourse paired with the potential for electricity to move society towards a lower-carbon future signals the third wave of electrification as a social construct.  Specifically, Americans are moving from their understanding of electricity access as a basic right to a mechanism for the delivery of a more sustainable future.  Here, in the third wave of electrification, electricity is no longer an end itself but rather a means to a greater societal purpose: decarbonization.