ABSTRACT
Globally, more than 1.6 billion electricity meters are installed at end-use locations, measuring energy usage information that provides the global electric utility industry with revenues of more than one trillion dollars annually. The electric utility industry in the United States today is fragmented, operating under a variety of different industry and regulatory structures. Much of the heterogeneity is a result of the history of the industry and the strong influence of ever-evolving regulatory structures. The first major attempt at deregulation of the electric power industry was the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which drive efficiency in the industry through wholesale competition. As airline deregulation had driven down prices in the 1980s, it was believed that the price of electricity to the end user would go down if the price of generation to the electric delivery company was determined by a free market. Across the expanse of the Asia-Pacific region, there are more than 14,000 large power generation facilities in operation.
