Reading an comment-piece about Californian water shortages on Forbes.com reminds me of my work on the Dominican electricity system a couple of years ago. Artificially restrained prices are common to both markets, (although in Santo Domingo, there were the additional problems of institutional disorganisation and widespread consumer theft). I can’t help but wonder for how long societies will continue to be surprised to discover that keeping utility prices low by regulatory fiat leads to over-consumption and shortage.