Electricity is the currency of the digital age. Not only do all information devices depend on it, but increasingly all types of equipment are electric. The overall effects of this transformation are clear. Even the steel industry has electrified and automated through microprocessors. Two-thirds comes from fossil fuels, mostly coal.
Competition increases bills, but also services.
But electricity is too important to the economy to ignore opportunities to increase innovation. More money is spent on electricity than gasoline, natural gas, and heating oil combined. Competition drops prices, but not the total bill. Telecom deregulation provides the case study. Energy companies are sure to follow this example.