If your local utility company charges too much for electricity, or provides poor service, there's not much you can do about it -- yet. But you may not have to put up with the arrogance of monopoly much longer!
Virginia Congressman Thomas Bliley reports that "average 1995 long distance phone prices were less than half what they were in 1985," a fact he attributes to "robust competition." Bliley expects similar savings from "breaking up the so-called 'Baby Bell' monopolies in local telephone service and allowing cross-competition between long distance, local telephone, and cable television companies as well. Soon," he predicts, "we'll be freed from the 'take-it-or-leave-it' monopolies in local telephone service, and the savings and service improvements are widely expected to be on a scale at least comparable to those we've come to know in long distance."
Congressman Bliley is convinced that "competition lowers consumer prices, encourages innovation, and improves service," and he wants to extend the benefits of competition to every sector of the American economy. As chairman of the House Commerce Committee, Bliley is currently orchestrating an effort to "pull the plug on the biggest, most expensive monopoly still standing, the one in electric utility service." He contends that "giving consumers the power to choose their own electric company will slash the average electric bill by as much as 43 percent."
Savings like that should appeal to everyone -- except, of course, the electric company. "Every household in America today, every small business, is a virtual hostage to the local electric utility monopoly," observes Bliley. But it doesn't have to be that way, because "competition in residential electricity markets is technically feasible." Bliley reports that competition is already occurring in "a handful of places and under tightly-controlled experiments. Utilities will soon begin competing on a wide scale in California and a few other States, where consumers will begin taking advantage of lower costs and enjoying better service."
Bliley cites studies showing that the power to choose "would save the average household as much as $216 a year." He notes that the few lucky consumers who already have that power save "about 15-20 percent, even after discounting the additional charges consumers must pay for use of their old utility's wires and meters." Bliley insists that savings such as those are just "the tip of the iceberg." He argues that "consumers could ultimately see a drop in costs for other goods and services as well, as energy savings are passed on to consumers."
Congressman Thomas Bliley concludes that "electric competition really works. Despite the hysterics of the electric monopolies," he observes, "there have been no brown-outs, no black-outs, no reductions in service." If Bliley has his way, all American consumers will get to enjoy "the same benefits, savings, and choices now being enjoyed [only] in the few experimental communities where electricity is now a matter of choice."
