The State of Retail Competition: A Failed Experiment

From the viewpoiint of residential consumers, the US state experiments in retail competition in the electricity industry have failed on the important measures of price, price stability, and reliability. Very few residential consumers are served by competitors in any state. Price volatility has weakened the industry financially, which further threatens bulk reliability. Recommendatitons include supervision of utility purchase of generation (portfolio management), a permanent regulated residential rate (as in Oregon), and increased low-income protections.