Researchers at the multi-university I/UCRC for Power Systems Engineering headquartered at Cornell (EEC-9616221) working on market mechanisms in the newly deregulated electric power industry have uncovered insights and design principles for market rules to support competition and efficient use of resources under the new conditions. Results from this effort were applied by Professor Shmuel Oren, a center researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, in a collaborative effort with the Texas Public Utility Commission to design the electricity market protocols for ERCOT, a consortium established by the US Department of Energy to study market forces in the de-regulated electric power industry. Other researchers at the center have developed principles of market behavior using experimental economics under alternative generation auction and price-setting rules. Results of experiments addressing key bidding rule issues in competitive generation markets have been presented to California and New York system operators, as well as some independent operators. Professor Oren has testified before the California Power Exchange Blue Ribbon Committee investigating alternative auction structures for the PX energy market and presented experimental results obtained by center researchers Profs. Robert J. Thomas and Tim Mount from Cornell University.