We have nuclear power plants in Maryland and Virginia that seem to operate without much public concern. Even if plants were built hastily at one point, I expect that Three Mile Island provoked vigorous re-examination of every plant in the country and retrofitting where necessary. Gov. Gilmore in Virginia just signed a new energy deregulation bill into law yesterday. Other states are already deregulating their power utilities. One of the major forces behind deregulation is technology.
New technology means that power plants can produce power more cheaply.
They can also be built on a smaller scale. That means more players can get into the business. And it's part of a general wave of deregulation that has swept through the economy, changing the nature of airline travel, trucking and telephone service. The biggest advocates of deregulation are large industrial and commercial power users for whom saving a penny per kilowatt hour or more can add up. The rest of us can rely on a product developed in the wake of telephone deregulation - voice mail, to prevent us from feeling compelled to jump up from the dinner table when the new power providers come telemarketing for our business.