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Low‐Income Issues in Electricity Restructuring
Author(s) -
OPPENHEIM JERROLD,
MACGREGOR THEO
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
review of policy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1541-1338
pISSN - 1541-132X
DOI - 10.1111/1541-1338.t01-1-00006
Subject(s) - restructuring , electricity , competition (biology) , electric utility , business , market economy , state (computer science) , electric power industry , economic restructuring , economics , economy , finance , engineering , ecology , algorithm , computer science , electrical engineering , biology
Lower prices. New technologies. More choices. These are benefits that competition through electric industry restructuring was supposed to bring customers. Thus far, results have been disappointing, and harmful to the most vulnerable–low‐income people. Restructuring is no longer under active consideration in any state that has not already enacted it. In several states, restructuring has been reversed. This article focuses on the few states that have retained electric industry restructuring, providing a menu of necessary protections, strategies for putting them into place, and supporting arguments to keep them there. However, low‐income protections are appropriate for anactment in all places because vulnerable low‐income families live in states with both restructured and traditional electricity regulation.