any people have spent the better part of M the last three years dealing with restructuring the electric and natural gas industries in the various states. By one account, 49 states are now engaged in discussing electric restructuring and at least 11 states have passed legislation addressing the issue. As we have discussed "unbundling" over the years, most of us have learned more than we wanted to about the structure of utility rates and the various sorts of costs incurred by gas and electric utilities. One of the more interesting revelations to come from utility industry restructuring has been the fact that utility rates have been used as a stealth vehicle for the promotion of social policy.
. . . utility rates have been used as a stealth vehicle for the promotion of social policy.
Legislatures have found it easy to promote various social agendas through the use of utility taxation and rates. Those agendas are largely unseen by the average rate-payer. When a utility customer pays his monthly bill, he is funding schools, low-income heating programs, environmental programs, conservation programs, bad-debt collection, shutoff moratoria, and a host of other programs. In 1994, for example,