Much of the nation is already being zapped by double-digit increases.
Several states have higher rates.
Deregulation, anti-pollution laws and distance from fuel sources are to blame. For all its energy notoriety and outrage over surging electricity rates, California has plenty of company. Overshadowed by the rhetoric, lawsuits and rolling blackouts is the fact that Californians have been paying less for electricity than residents in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Alaska and, by a longshot, Hawaii. In the early 1980s, one kilowatt hour of power cost residential customers about a dime. Several states in the Northeast, including Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts, are actively deregulating.