The most recent was that of Houston Industries, the nation's ninth largest electric utility with NorAm Energy Corporation the nation's third largest natural gas utility. In state after state concentrated power is growing at an astonishing speed. For example, in 1990 Iowa boasted six investor owned utilities. After the latest merger two will remain. By the year 2000 only one might be left.
Utilities argue that mergers save money.
But even by their own self-serving estimates, such savings are trivial and short term. Moreover many utility experts believe these savings could be achieved without the need for increasing the concentration of power within the utility sector. 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.