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Congress passed the Energy Act of 1992 which began a transition from a regulated electricity industry to a competitive electricity industry when it gave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the authority to order utilities to open their transmission facilities to wholesale market participants. The transmission utility must "wheel" power from another utility or other generator to a wholesale customer who then resells that power to the end-user, the retail customer. In 1996, the FERC promulgated its final rule promoting wholesale competition. It stated that the FERC's "goal is to remove impediments to competition in the wholesale bulk power marketplace and to bring more efficient, lower cost power to the Nation's electricity consumers."

In recent years the large industrial customers have become vocal about competition in the retail market. In some cases, industrial customers have urged cities to "municipalize," to directly provide the electricity needs instead of contracting with an IOU. Industrial customers are in a better position than residential customers to negotiate lower rates. They may be able to find alternative fuel sources to provide their needs. They may be able to produce their own electricity. One of the major considerations in the location of a plant may be the electric rates. Industrial customers have more favorable load characteristics than residential customers, which allows the electric utility to make better use of its generating plants.

A major contributor to the discussion of electricity competition is technological advances. In the past, generating plants were extremely costly and took a long time to build. Today we have available more efficient, less costly generating units which are constructed fairly quickly. Also, technology is helping reduce consumption through the use of more efficient appliances and by providing information to the consumer which allows him to more efficiently schedule his usage.

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF
CONSUMER AFFAIRS

3600 Forest Drive, 3rd Floor
P.O. Box 5757
Columbia, SC 29250
(803) 734-4200 or (800) 922-1594 (toll free in S.C.)
Fax (803) 734 4299

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS

3600 Forest Drive, 3rd Floor P.O. Box 5757 Columbia, SC 29250 (803) 734-4200 or (800) 922-1594 (toll free in S.C.) Fax (803) 734 4299

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF
CONSUMER AFFAIRS

3600 Forest Drive, 3rd Floor
P.O. Box 5757
Columbia, SC 29250
(803) 734-4200 or (800) 922-1594 (toll free in S.C.)
Fax (803) 734 4299