Electric Deregulation
Electric Deregulation By: Phoebe Nolley What is electric deregulation? Deregulation involves segmenting electric services into separate components; generating and delivering electricity. Under deregulation, customers of investor-owned facilities will be able to select who generates their electricity. Can the United States afford to deregulate the most reliable electric system in the world? ... We seem to be headed towards a society where we will eventually have to deal with The Bank, The Airline, The Phone Company, The Electric Industry, The Cable Company, etc. ... Deregulation creates a detrimental effect on our economy, our future, and on us—the consumers. The United States economy cannot afford to make mistakes like deregulating our electric industry. ... The electric industry is a major part of our economy, and if we deregulate this industry, than we are leading the country into deeper recession. ... So, if the president is agreeing, why add fuel to the fire by deregulating the electric industry? ... “The combination of unregulated state wholesale electricity markets and federal deregulation of commodity exchanges has removed accountability and transparency from the energy sector, allowing corporations to manipulate price and supply of electricity and natural gas through the exercise of significant market power. ... “The three principles of transparency, accountability, and citizen oversight-all removed under deregulation-are necessary elements for a market system to function properly.