We encourage readers to use the link to the LA Times website. Nothing about electricity deregulation in California is simple, starting with the name. Previously, utilities both generated and delivered power. Instead, it raced ahead as much as three times more quickly than predicted, straining the supply. Proponents say deregulation has been badly implemented.
Competition definitely occurs.
At first they were low. So they're much less at the mercy of wholesalers. A watt, named for inventor James Watt, is a measure of a small amount of power. One horsepower is equivalent to about 750 watts. A megawatt is 1 million watts.