[BETA] Fortnightly

The belief that competition will take over for regulation is a "fairy tale approach" to

electric industry restructuring.

That's what Matthew Freedman, energy policy analyst, announced at a Public Citizen briefing on the advocacy group's Power for the People, a "public interest blueprint" for the new electric market.

"Competition in the electric power industry could either usher in a new era of cleaner, more affordable energy services or prove to be the biggest customer shakedown of our time," the report reads. Possible outcomes of restructuring, the report notes, include:

s Higher bills for small business and residential consumers and discounted large-consumer rates

s Elimination of energy-efficiency programs

s Unregulated monopoly utilities stifling competition and increasing profits

s Bail outs of inefficient, high-cost utilities, which will reward shareholders for bad business decisions.

To prevent those outcomes and to ensure that customers receive benefits, the blueprint proposes:

s Withholding recovery of costs for uneconomical utility assets, except in special circumstances

s Breaking up vertically integrated monopolies by divesting assets

s Creating an independent energy agency to oversee energy efficiency, low-income, universal service, and research and development programs

s Funding and agressively promoting energy-efficiency programs with a systems benefits charge.

The nonprofit Public Citizen group was founded by Ralph Nader in 1974. Copies of the $20 report can be obtained by calling (202) 833-3000. (em JS

Articles found on this page are available to Internet subscribers only. For more information about obtaining a username and password, please call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-368-5001.