Most states require generators to inform customers about their environmental impacts, because that is the information many customers want when they choose electricity providers. But if consumers get information on a variety of product features, different companies can compete for customers on the basis of the qualities of their product. Prohibit price gouging and unfair competition. In other states, utilities offer a low price for their base service, but then charge 10 times more for electricity during times of peak demand. That means exorbitant costs for operating your refrigerator during a heat wave or using the electric heater during a cold spell.
Competition works when informed consumers have a range of options and make informed choices.
When the market is structured to allow monopolies, essential product information is buried, and unfair rules prevent new technologies from competing, the free market never develops and the consumer gets gouged. The PSC should return to the drawing board with its proposed rules. Don't implement deregulation unless it will promote cleaner, greener energy industries, prohibit price gouging and unfair competition, and give customers the whole truth about the electricity it purchases. If the PSC won't listen, consumers will have no choice but to ask legislators to revisit deregulation. Ask them why they voted to raise your electric rates.