In the NOPR, FERC asserted that today the country has a high supply of “relatively inexpensive” natural gas due to technological advances and the discovery of new gas reserves. Therefore, FERC wrote, there is no longer the same need now as there was in 1978 to address natural gas shortages. When PURPA was originally passed in the late 1970s, many utility companies were “vertically integrated” and did not want to buy power from third-party independent generators. However, today the system and market is much different: the market has open access transmission and there is a wholesale market that allows utilities to buy power from independent generators at competitive market prices. Today, most energy production based on renewable resources do not require reliance on PURPA.