For those paying attention to the California electric rates and prices you may have noticed that your paying quite a bit more for your electric service than the rest of the country. Texas has occasionally had high electric rates that were quite a bit higher than other states by now California is the state to not be so envious of.
It is a positive that home mortgage prices have come down in price in California but with the higher electric utility bills it has a bit of an offset effect. Since California will soon be opening back up deregulation in their electric service market the government is hoping to see electric rates come back down with increased competition in the deregulated energy market.
Average CA Electric Rates Are Higher Than Most of the Country
As you can see in the state by state electric rate chart for 2009 California is close to the bottom. Their electric rates have been pretty high compared to the rest of the country. Texas is considered to be the most successful deregulated electricity service market and for 2009 Texas has moved up in the chart compared to where they had been a few years ago. Although Texas still has high electric rate prices due to the reliance on natural gas as the primary fuel used to generate electricity.
Prior Attempt at Deregulating Electric Rates in California Was a Huge Disaster
Although the last time California had their electricity markets deregulated their was rampant corruption and several million dollars in fines against companies like Reliant Energy and Enron Energy this is unlikely to happen again. Considering that the government will be having an even more watchful eye on potential energy market manipulation. There will probably never be the level of corruption in regards to market manipulation as their was in the past. Just looking at the huge fines levied against these electric service companies should be a good deterrent. Reliant Energy settled out of court and so they never officially admitted to any wrong doing but the fines were substantial. Several of Reliant’s employees were pursued in court and litigated against. Enron of course is no more.
Current Political Administration is Anti-Deregulation
The Obama administration is anti-deregulation and there may be a new bill created similar to the health care bill but even worse in regulating all electric utilities again and doing away with deregulation. This would increase the size of the government, create more high paying government jobs and insure thousands of committed state employees votes in future elections. This new ruler of America has every reason to go after energy deregulation and put an end to it as it would further put into place his socialistic agenda. Obama can simply point to the Enron example as a way to get his point across as to why regulation is better than deregulation.
2009 Average Electric Rates by State
| State | Rate |
| North Dakota | 7.59 |
| Washington | 7.75 |
| Idaho | 7.76 |
| West Virginia | 7.89 |
| Louisiana | 8.24 |
| Kentucky | 8.31 |
| Missouri | 8.39 |
| Nebraska | 8.48 |
| South Dakota | 8.49 |
| Utah | 8.5 |
| Wyoming | 8.55 |
| Oklahoma | 8.59 |
| Oregon | 8.75 |
| Montana | 8.88 |
| West North Central | 9.07 |
| Indiana | 9.29 |
| Tennessee | 9.31 |
| Arkansas | 9.32 |
| East South Central | 9.54 |
| Kansas | 9.6 |
| Iowa | 9.87 |
| North Carolina | 9.94 |
| Minnesota | 9.98 |
| Colorado | 10.01 |
| Georgia | 10.04 |
| New Mexico | 10.09 |
| Mississippi | 10.14 |
| South Carolina | 10.17 |
| Mountain | 10.19 |
| Alabama | 10.52 |
| Ohio | 10.61 |
| Virginia | 10.61 |
| Arizona | 10.74 |
| East North Central | 10.9 |
| Illinois | 11.25 |
| South Atlantic | 11.25 |
| West South Central | 11.26 |
| U.S. Total | 11.55 |
| Pennsylvania | 11.66 |
| Michigan | 11.82 |
| Wisconsin | 11.91 |
| Florida | 12.31 |
| Pacific Contiguous | 12.37 |
| Texas | 12.66 |
| Nevada | 12.85 |
| District of Columbia | 13.49 |
| Delaware | 14.13 |
| Vermont | 14.9 |
| Middle Atlantic | 14.99 |
| Maryland | 15.04 |
| California | 15.05 |
| Maine | 15.39 |
| Rhode Island | 15.54 |
| New Hampshire | 16.39 |
| New Jersey | 16.44 |
| Massachusetts | 17.01 |
| Alaska | 17.2 |
| New England | 17.5 |
| New York | 17.8 |
| Connecticut | 20.36 |
| Pacific Noncontiguous | 21.34 |
| Hawaii | 24.2 |
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