The deregulation deal with the utilities in 1997 was a ten year rate freeze in order to allow time for retail market based competition to develop. Un-bundling of utility services did not work for retail markets. The only sensible solution is to re-regulate the utilities and return to cost of service pricing until true competition is evident for the "last mile". There can not be competition when one company owns the only wire that goes from the pole to your house. Think about it! Deregulation worked for telephones because there are alternative technologies, e.g. cellular and VOIP. But there are no mature alternatives to your electric supplier. It is still a monopoly structure, and monopolies are regulated with oversight by public entities. Nothing new under the sun here.