In recent years, the deregulation movement has spread to industries with which consumers interact daily, such as electric power and telephone service, whose dependability and equitable pricing were generally left to government and not thought much about. There seems to be an increasing feeling among consumers that much of this ended with the deregulation and privatization of these industries. We are confronted with the possibility that those doing their homework are receiving better service and lower prices than we are, that equitable pricing may no longer exist. We can't even make sense of the bills we receive for such services. We are forced to think about something that we used to take for granted.
Life is already complex enough.
He maintains that the impact on consumers is complex. Sometimes consumers are winners and sometimes losers. As a consultant to the utility industry, I believe in the long-term advantages of deregulation. Other jurisdictions that deregulated electric service, such as Australia and England, have seen significant drops in prices. That will be the case in some states in the U.S., but not so in others where prices may actually increase.