Electric Industry Restructuring: An Overview of the Policy Issues

The crisis precipitated by the flawed restructuring of California's electric power industry focused national attention on the questin of whether to allow utility companies-highly regulated by government-to operate in a deregulated energy market. This symposium examines the issues involved in moving from regulation to deregulation of the electric power industry. This introductory paper reviews the deregulation policy issues and discusses California's deregulation experience to put the issue in context. Copyright 2003 by The Policy Studies Organization.