I was for this at one time, and strongly for it, I must sheepishly admit.  Now I think it would be a big mistake.  The utilities are getting swallowed by multinational corporations who care nothing for the USA or for local conditions.  Others have gone into risky ventures with disastrous consequences for their stockholders and employees.

Some sort of regulation must be maintained as a brake to be put on the excesses of these go go multimillion dollar loser executives and the globalists who don't care if we live or die.  Think of Enron, Montana Power, Northwestern Corporation and some others that I forgot.

Yeah, great idea. Did California a whole lot of good.

The forest (as opposed to the trees) with electricity deregulation is that we must reconcile the conflicting public policy concerns for safe, affordable and reliable energy with the environment. We cannot have it both ways, and knee jerk reactions after each crisis in favor of either interest are economically wasteful. Obviously some regulation is necessary (eg to assure that all areas of the country are served), but it makes no sense to abandon the advantages of private enterprise that is subject to efficient market forces.

Do it.

Sure, lets get the Enron boys in to run it. That will work so much better.

Deregulation of electricity has acutally worked very well. New England began to utilize it during the 1990's and the result was that prices went down significantly while also increasing output. The marketplace works well with supplying electricity to consumers. People are going to ask what about the California blackout a few years ago? The issue there was poor distribution of available power rather than short supply. It wasn't really de-regulation either, retail rates were frozen, so prices couldn't adjust to market forces. It was completely flawed, a political accomodation that wasn't based on sound policy. In 2001, California got 40 percent of its energy resources from out of state. The problem is that the state needed to supply their own power, which means that if they want to see decreased energy prices, they are going to have to produce their own power and not rely on other states for electricity. There was no lack of energy per se, its just that supply wasn't evenly distributed. Of course, government needs to be a fair arbiter in many cases, such as enforcing environmental regulations and making sure that all areas are being supplied with electricity. Deregulation is a more efficient way of providing electricity cheaply.

Yes. Complete deregulation, please.

Yeah because Enron was really able to handle itself. Companies have proven themselves ineffective at this.

privatize all utlities!

CA got into a mess because it had partial deregulation made horrific by failed Gov Davis's political maneuvers. Davis crippled the CA economy for decades by locking in high rates.

Uh, WHAT? Parson me, excuse my interruption, and not to be nosy, but did I miss something here? This is actually an issue? Does ANYONE, other than the few people it is affecting, actually care about electricity deregulation? I'm still not sure what it has to do with politics. What happened to the good old days when we debated real issues like school prayer (blechhh) and abortion (definitely!)? I can't believe this is on the political issues list. Very funny, Rateitall.

Hmmm....why even bother to make a joke about California....that would be redundant. I agree with Ruby, de-regulating the industry would make it better for evewryone. I LIKE being able to fire companies that don't get the job done. Customer satisfaction is supposed to be priority one in a consumer driven economy. Let free-enterprise and competition rule.

Electricity deregulation could be a huge boon to our economy. The industries that have been deregulated in the last three decades have brought plummeting prices (often 50% or more) and improved service. Taking 50% off our total electric costs (and that off businesses who could lower prices, etec.) would have a huge impact. Of course, that's assuming that deregulation actually means deregulation. What happened in California is a travesty -- the deregulation of wholesale prices and the strict regulation of everything else (frozen retail rates; no long- term contracts; and, worst, an inability to build new production in the state)! What is happening is right out of Atlas Shrugged -- lefties demanding "electricity for everyone, at reasonable rates" while insisting that no one create new production facilities.