Prices in regulated industries rely on costs, which include the cost of capital as a key component. This paper, by NERA Senior Vice President Dr. Jeff D. Makholm, presents his perspective on NERA’s half-century work in cost of capital. He examines the institutional and historical aspects that lie behind the determination of the cost of capital in North America. Despite the multiple ways in which utility businesses have changed in structure, ownership, pricing, and competitiveness over the past 50 years, the cost of capital remains a basic issue for local distribution in electricity, gas, water, and interstate transmission in both gas and electricity. It is the principal empirical interface between private investors and the public interest and a continuing subject of debate, concern, and empirical investigation.