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The success of the transition to a deregulated and fully competitive electric industry will be contingent on the recovery of historical costs by electric utilities with the greatest financial stakes in the previous system. Having borne the brunt of infrastructural, production and transmission costs under a regulated system, utilities will resist deregulation unless some form of compensation accompanies reform., Much of the impetus for the movement to competitive power markets is a result of the tremendous variance in energy prices across the country. Large commercial and industrial customers are [...]

State utility regulators are weighing the potential advantages and disadvantages of retail- wheeling in the electric utilities industry. Retail-wheeling refers to the provision of power by a utility outside its service territory by using the transmission network of another utility. Proponents think that retail-wheeling will improve the structure and provision of power by utilities while universally lowering the price of electricity. Detractors believe retail- wheeling will create a monopolistic industry under which the provision of power will become unreliable and the consumer will be victimized., Retail wheeling has hit the electric utility industry by storm, as evidenced by the fact that more than 20 states currently have reviews, investigations or pilot programs under way. No [...]

Many parallels exist between regulated industries. Universal service riders used to fund accessibility mimic those of the telecommunications industry. Emergent service fees levied by gas and electric utilities resemble trends [...]