The Deregulation of Gas and Electricity is the last deregulation that will take place in American history, and we just so happen to be in living in that era. I remember when the Telecom Industry deregulated. What was ironic about telecom deregulation is it took a long while for the general public to gain knowledge that they suddenly had a choice of providers and they could shop for lower rates. The fact is there wasn't widespread news and information to make the public aware. The news didn't spread as fast as one would think. The general public didn't suddenly drop the monopoly they had been with for their entire life and begin shopping for cheaper rates. It took several years for people to realize that it was ok to switch to a lower priced provider and that their service would not be interrupted or worse, disconnected. I feel the reason it took so long for the public to understand telecom deregulation is that nobody really cared as long as they continued to have phone service. Several new providers entered the market and offered much lower prices than the incumbent but the general public, unaware that they had a choice, were skeptical to switch from the monopoly they had been with for so many years. People eventually learned to appreciate the many options when spending their money. One company in particular, Excel Communications, took the break up a step further by taking the direct sales approach to gain what they labeled a more faithful customer. Consultants were paid commissions by taking on the task of finding customers, then getting paid residual income each time a bill was paid. Excel created over 2,000 Millionaires and several thousandaires if you will until cell phones made landlines obsolete and entirely changed the way we communicate.

Energy deregulation is promised to become the largest transfer of wealth in American history as the monopolies in each state are broken up as deregulation is put in place state by state. The Government has given each state in the union a few more years to have a plan for deregulation in place. Several states have seen the benefit and have already deregulated and several providers have sprung up to take advantage. Just like the telecom deregulation consumers are once again skeptical of leaving their long time monopoly friend. People fear their service will be disrupted or that their bill will have hidden charges. Other fears are the loss of power due to a major storm, maybe the new provider will not restore service as fast as their long term monopoly friend would have. Not much different than the same fears that folks faced when telecom deregulated. Allow me to shed some light on all these myths. Before deregulation the utility monopoly controlled all 3 components of the energy industry: generation, transmission and the sale. Deregulation divides those processes giving different companies the ability to handle each aspect. Delivery will continue to be provided by the former monopoly, as they own the lines and pipes and also own the responsibility that the pipes and meters are working properly. The new providers are simply selling us the energy. They simply buy energy and sell it back to the consumer at a lower price than the monopoly can. Just like Excel Communications did in the late 80's and early 90's other companies have stepped in and taken the direct sales approach to acquiring customers. The reason for direct sales you ask, just like telecom the attraction for companies is a longer term more faithful customer. Direct sales is based on relationship marketing. Instead of spending millions of dollars on advertising the direct selling company pays consultants commissions to find the customers for them by using company training to do so. The attraction for consultants that take on the task of gathering customers is they can earn bonuses and most importantly residual income (a small portion of the bill each time it is paid). Not a bad way to make money, do something once and get paid over and over again. The difference between the deregulation of telecom and energy is energy involves so much more money. That is why energy deregulation is promising to become the largest transfer of wealth in American history. Imagine all the millionaires that will be created. For more information click on the link