The upside of deregulation can be that prices for electricity after deregulation will be determined by the market and not individual producers' costs. This will mean that electricity produced by wind or solar or biomass plants will cost the same as electricity produced from coal or nuclear plants. Then the price disincentive for consumers to choose a renewable energy supplier will be removed allowing consumers to choose with their conscience not their pocketbook.
I believe that in this situation most customers will choose to have their electricity provided by environmentally friendly energy sources. With this in mind it seems as though the environmental movement now has at their disposal the perfect vehicle by which to achieve their goals of creating a renewable energy economy in the United States. If enough customers sign on to buy renewable energy then someone will have to build the generating capacity in renewables to meet that demand.
Whether it is the existing utilities or start-up providers who build the capacity doesn't really matter in the end. What matters is that the job gets done. As deregulation progresses, it will be up to the public to manage the process and to ensure that electric choice remains an integral part of it so that the choice as to our future really does get to be made by the People.
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