In the mid-1990s deregulation in New York began when the state government began to implement policies to restructure the electricity industry. It was believed that this deregulation could help businesses and consumers save money on electricity in the State of New York in light of a flagging economy and increasing power costs at the hands of the monopolies granted to electrical utilities when power regulations were first enacted.
While deregulation is something that has been occurring within the natural gas industry since the seventies, deregulation in New York is something that took quite a while. The reason for this is that it's a lot more complicated than natural gas. Because of these complications, the restructuring would impact the cost of electricity greatly, as well as the way things work in the power industry in the years to come. So let's take a look at the deregulation in New York to try to understand it a little bit better shall we?
How do you define a utility? You hear the term all the time, but what is it exactly? Well, it's something that can be touched, therefore it is tangible. A utility is something that the public relies on, and these are usually defined as water, gas, and electricity. It's very important that these utilities make it to their destination, and that means the company providing the service needs to be able to deliver the power and repair it if necessary.
It was ultimately determined by both state and federal lawmakers that it is in the public's interest to regulate how electricity is provided. To keep utilities from practicing price gouging like often happened in the early years the utilities were being built and to encourage widespread access by individual consumers, the government originally allowed individual utilities certain monopolistic rights to sell energy unchallenged within a specific territorial area, known in the industry as the "service area" or "franchise territory." In the times when the utility was first being set up, this monopoly allowed the utility to regulate prices any way they saw fit as well as enacting service terms and conditions that the consumer had no choice but to abide by if they wanted power.
In spite of the safeguards regarding prices that the Public Service Commission had supposedly set up, there was really nothing said about the actual prices that there being charged. It was a very rare occasion when the PSC actually stepped in and tried to work out the problems that were going on. This wasn't good because it's not like the customer really had a choice in what to use for power!
The whole idea behind deregulation in New York will help a customer to select a power company. This means that they'd be able to pick any power company they want instead of the one that's been in the area for so long. There is a chance that this will allow people to save money, considering that can choose a company offering a better rate for kilowatt hours.
No matter what happens, there's always going to be a serious problem with the idea of deregulation. The major power company still has to provide the services for the area, and they still have to repair and maintain the power grid. Customers will have to pay a deliver charge on that account because the company does need to do the repairs. Though you might appear to be getting a lower price the deliver charge might actually overpower this.
It's something that's never really said in the advertisements for the alternative power companies. If you plan to go with one of these companies then you'll need to look into them and see what the deliver charge is. Sad but true, you'll just have to make sure you are getting a decent deal. - 29939
While deregulation is something that has been occurring within the natural gas industry since the seventies, deregulation in New York is something that took quite a while. The reason for this is that it's a lot more complicated than natural gas. Because of these complications, the restructuring would impact the cost of electricity greatly, as well as the way things work in the power industry in the years to come. So let's take a look at the deregulation in New York to try to understand it a little bit better shall we?
How do you define a utility? You hear the term all the time, but what is it exactly? Well, it's something that can be touched, therefore it is tangible. A utility is something that the public relies on, and these are usually defined as water, gas, and electricity. It's very important that these utilities make it to their destination, and that means the company providing the service needs to be able to deliver the power and repair it if necessary.
It was ultimately determined by both state and federal lawmakers that it is in the public's interest to regulate how electricity is provided. To keep utilities from practicing price gouging like often happened in the early years the utilities were being built and to encourage widespread access by individual consumers, the government originally allowed individual utilities certain monopolistic rights to sell energy unchallenged within a specific territorial area, known in the industry as the "service area" or "franchise territory." In the times when the utility was first being set up, this monopoly allowed the utility to regulate prices any way they saw fit as well as enacting service terms and conditions that the consumer had no choice but to abide by if they wanted power.
In spite of the safeguards regarding prices that the Public Service Commission had supposedly set up, there was really nothing said about the actual prices that there being charged. It was a very rare occasion when the PSC actually stepped in and tried to work out the problems that were going on. This wasn't good because it's not like the customer really had a choice in what to use for power!
The whole idea behind deregulation in New York will help a customer to select a power company. This means that they'd be able to pick any power company they want instead of the one that's been in the area for so long. There is a chance that this will allow people to save money, considering that can choose a company offering a better rate for kilowatt hours.
No matter what happens, there's always going to be a serious problem with the idea of deregulation. The major power company still has to provide the services for the area, and they still have to repair and maintain the power grid. Customers will have to pay a deliver charge on that account because the company does need to do the repairs. Though you might appear to be getting a lower price the deliver charge might actually overpower this.
It's something that's never really said in the advertisements for the alternative power companies. If you plan to go with one of these companies then you'll need to look into them and see what the deliver charge is. Sad but true, you'll just have to make sure you are getting a decent deal. - 29939
About the Author:
About the author: Jerry Dyess has been in the Texas Electricity business for the past 7 years. He has published many articles on Texas Electric rates.
