The cruel irony is that these mergers are occurring at precisely the moment that we are radically revising the rules that govern the electricity sector in order to promote more competition. On the one hand we are developing policies to expand the number of electricity suppliers that customers can choose from. On the other hand we are agreeing to mergers that will shrink the number of suppliers and hamper competition. That these two courses contradict one another apparently has yet to occur to our politicians. To date no state legislature or state or federal regulatory commission has rejected a merger application.
Newspapers put merger stories in their financial pages.
Reporters call up financial brokers for predictions about how the mergers will affect bond ratings and stock prices. No newspaper has offered its readers a critical scrutiny about the impact of mergers on Main Street rather than Wall Street. 1990s, meet the 1920s. That is more than the telephone and airline industries combined. Electricity is not a convenience.