Members elect the board of directors and can take complaints to the staff management and board. Deregulation would take away customers' valuable right to appeal to independent regulators. The tariff appeals board cannot compel information that a customer may need to prove a complaint. At the end of the process within MEA the manager and board have the final say. Currently members already can appeal to the management and board, but if not satisfied they may also appeal to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to help resolve complaints and rate disputes.
Nothing is gained for the consumer with the deregulation proposal.
These figures are small compared to the outrageous legal costs that MEA generates that are many times higher than regulatory charges. It appears that MEA initiates more legal actions than any other utility in the state. MEA is a monopoly and customers have no choice of power providers. The only way to hold monopolies accountable is to have either competition or regulation. Where there is no competition or regulation three things generally happen-rates rise, service gets worse and accountability disappears.