Pennsylvania Deregulation May Begin to Falter

Despite the negative publicity generated by the situation in California, advocates of electric industry restructuring have been pointing to Pennsylvania as deregulation's saving grace. However, Pennsylvania may soon be ending its term as deregulation's poster child...

By Staff June 12, 2001

Despite the negative publicity generated by the situation in California, advocates of electric industry restructuring have been pointing to Pennsylvania as deregulation’s saving grace. However, Pennsylvania may soon be ending its term as deregulation’s poster child, says Phillip Bryant, an industry analyst with the Lakewood, Colo.-based market research firm, Energy Info Source.

According to Bryant, Pennsylvania’s wholesale prices have increased 84 percent since deregulation began in 1998, and the majority of electricity suppliers are leaving the state for greener pastures. As a result, 15 percent of all commercial end-users and 23 percent of industrial customers who had been participating in deregulation, opted to leave their alternate suppliers and return to the utilities earlier this year. The net result… an overall 20-percent reduction in load provided by alternate suppliers.

In addition, the main source of deregulation savings, the state’s rate freeze, may not be around very much longer. According to Bryant, because utilities are selling off their generation assets and buying electricity on the open market, they are requesting that the rate freeze be eliminated to mitigate financial losses from these sales.

For more information from Energy Info Source, visit: www.energyinfosource.com .