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Summary
The deregulation of the power industry could be considered a good thing because it gives the consumer, or the customer the choice of where their power is coming from, and having a say is nice. However, some times having a choice is not the best thing because people will make the wrong decisions. The problem with deregulation is that most people will choose to receive their energy from the cheapest provider, and these cheaper providers create the most air pollution. The cheaper providers are the older power plants that do not have to meet clean air standards because of loop holes in the laws. The new power plants must meet these standards, and therefore have to purchase new equipment, and this intern drives up the cost of the electricity bill. The public does not realize that their cheaper power is really costing them more due to environmental externalities, and this is the number one problem with power plant deregulation. Currently deregulation is doing exactly what it set out to do; make the energy bigwigs millions at the expense of our health and environment (EIR, 2001).
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Figure 1. Choice (Department of Environmental Protection, 2003)
