Utilities neither produce energy like oil companies nor consume it like households, but convert it from one form to another. The electricity created is attractive because it is clean and versatile, because it can be moved great distances nearly instantaneously. Demand for electricity has grown even as demand for energy as a whole has contracted, with consumption of electricity increasing from one quarter of total energy consumption in 1973 to about a third.

The major participants in the electric power industry are about 200 investor owned utilities that generate 78% of the power and supply 76% of the customers. The industry is very capital intensive and heavily regulated, and it has a large impact on other industries including aluminum, steel, electronics, computers, and robotics. The electrical power industry is the largest consumer of primary energy in the United States: consumes over one-third of the total national energy demand and only...