Energy DeregulationEnergy Deregulation

Midwest Energy Deregulation
A decade ago, Ohio's electric utilities lost a battle with their industrial customers when the manufacturers convinced state lawmakers that competition could lower monthly electric bills. It was called deregulation, and it swept through states with high electric rates in the mid- to late-1990s. By January 2000, Ohio and 23 other states had begun the radical experiment to allow outside "merchant" power companies to invade the territories of local utilities and beat down their rates.