Deregulation is a good thing. This sounds like a scare tactic.
Regulated utilities lose money right and left when prices suddenly advance, if they did not properly hedge their energy fuels.
IIRC, PA has a lot of nuclear so you won't have many problems.
In Texas the gutless PUC tied new energy generation to natural gas prices in the late 90’s, which was a great idea then. Now they won't change the formula, so coal and nuclear based utilities are very profitable. Newcomers get blasted since they can get permits for nat gas plants only.
TXU and Reliant practically own the PUC so they get whatever they want.
We need a lot of new generators in Texas and a lot of new transmission lines, which will cost consumers a bundle.
I don't know the needs of PA, but if the politicians get involved hide your wallet.
And if there is money involved, then politicians will be near.
Deregulation won’t work in a state like California which must import electricity from other states; it can work in a state like Pennsylvania which has abundant sources of coal and exports electricity. As recently revealed by no less than the U.S. Supreme Court, energy traders like Enron did not cause the 2001 California Energy Crisis. Neither did deregulation per se. It was caused by the state legislature and a weak governor.
Deregulation would be a good thing if it were truly de-regulation. But in the case of electricity, it's anything but deregulation.
When the government steps in to prevent the building of needed power plants using the junk science of "gloBULL warming", then it isn't a free market. When the government places a moratorium on shutting power off to people that refuse to pay for what they've already used (and forcing other customers to pay for it indirectly), then it isn't a free market. When the government forces a utility to provide power transmission and distribution to their "competitors", then it isn't a free market.
Better find out how the word “deregulation” is being defined. The deregulators may have their own dictionary.
I live in Texas. We have deregulation here and we got hammered badly. I don’t know who the culprits are but I’m paying the highest electric rates I have ever paid. And I have checked around. You can check powertochoose.com to see the available Texas rates for a preview of what you may see there.