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Article: Free market system wrong choice
- Article from:
- The Herald News - Joliet (IL)
- Article date:
- October 5, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright, 2005, The Herald News. All rights reserved. REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1997, the Illinois Legislature boldly attempted to change how it handles the sale of electricity to consumers. Although complex in the extreme, the reform was essentially twofold. First, electricity rates were reduced by 20 percent and then frozen at this reduced rate for 10 years. Second, a framework was created to transition electricity sales from the world of regulation to the world of competitive markets. The goal was ensuring long-term reliability of the supply of electricity at reasonable, competitive prices.
The reason rates were cut was simple. At that time, Illinois had the highest electricity rates in the country. The reduction simply brought Illinois to the national average. ...