Not only do all information devices depend on it, but increasingly all types of equipment are going electric. Electrification is often driven by the ease of integration with microprocessor controls. This transformation's overall effects are clear. Even the steel industry has electrified and automated through microprocessors. But the underlying driver is that electricity is too important to the economy to ignore opportunities to increase innovation.
More money is spent on electricity than gasoline, natural gas, and heating oil combined.
The prospects for deregulation have already changed the business. But they know electric demand is tightly linked to economic growth. And the U.S. economy is, despite some hiccups, expected to keep rolling. Competition drops prices, but not the total bill. Telecom deregulation provides the case study.