Why am I not convinced that electric utilities really want to sell off their generating plants? A wires company--is that something to aspire to? Nobody likes to see wires strung every which way along the street. Isn't that why electric utilities call them telephone poles?
I hear utilities say that power production looks too risky. But is a wires-only strategy a retreat back into the womb of regulation?
If power companies expect rates for transmission and distribution to remain regulated, I'm a skeptic. One reason is what's happening with gas pipelines. In late April, Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. filed a stunning stipulation and multiyear global settlement offering to accept the full risk of future capacity turnback. Texas Eastern would cut gas transportation rates significantly for a long list of local distribution copanies: 17 percent in the first year for Bay State gas; 10 percent for Boston Gas; 16 percent for East Ohio Gas. That doesn't look like a regulated monopoly. (See, FERC Docket Nos. RP98-198-000, RP85-177-126, transmittal leter and exhibits filed April 28, 1998.)