Electricity deregulation may leave poor in dark

Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy

Volumn 12, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 13-17

  Brockway, Nancy ^a  

^a National Consumer Law Center   (United States)

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EID: 0141648015     PISSN: 08878218     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (4)

1. George Soros, "The Capitalist Current," The Atlantic Monthly (February 1997), p. 45.
2. Under various scenarios, utilities could be required to sell off their generation plants, set up a separate affiliated company to hold those assets, or merely separate the accounting and operations of the competitive generation function from the regulated monopoly transmission and distribution functions. Moreover, there are different visions of how extensively competition should be introduced. For example, some observers propose that metering and billing be offered as competitive services, rather than provided under regulation by the distribution utility.
3. Today, Americans are billed after the fact for their electricity use. A prepayment meter, by contrast, blocks the flow of power until the customer feeds the meter, either by inserting coins, or more likely, by inserting a "smart card" that is electronically imprinted with a monetary value equal to the amount that the customer has already paid the utility.
4. David Carroll, "Meeting the Energy Needs of Low-income Households in Louisville and Jefferson County," prepared for the Affordable Energy Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky, February 1995.