I know how corporations work. I know how competition and capitalism work too. BUT, can anyone here tell me they have a CHOICE on who to buy their electricity from? (and I admit I've never looked into whether other states - let alone countries - have actual competitive markets when it comes to electricity providers)
So under a MONOPOLY why would a corporation share a sudden cost savings? Especially after spending astronomical amounts of money to achieve said cost savings?
They'll be charging for that for generations, far beyond recovering those costs, just like landline phone companies with long distance fees.
In the U.S., it depends on where you are located. The electric power business has been going through changes, and continues to do so. Here in Florida, at the residential level, we typically get power from a regulated monopoly. There is a move on however, to put a proposed state constitutional amendment on the ballot to change that. Larger customers (e.g. stadiums, municipal utilities, etc.) already can shop around for who to buy power from.
Electric power companies that have been granted a monopoly get regulated as part of the deal. They have to answer to public service/utility commissions (by whatever name) and are limited to how much they can charge above their cost to produce.
There are geographical areas where residential customers can choose who to buy power from, as I understand it.
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Regarding the possibility of fusion powered electricity generation becoming commercially feasible and cheaper than fission powered plants... if it comes to pass, I doubt that the utility companies will be able to gouge the customers on it. Fission plants have been horrendously expensive to build in the later years, which has resulted in public service commissions sometimes agreeing to pass some charges on to customers before the plants were built/operational... in order to make it possible to get lower cost electricity later on. That has not panned out in some cases, leaving a bad taste.
Fusion plants, if they become feasible, should be inherently safer to operate, and cheaper to decommission at the end of life. If a design becomes available that can produce power cheaper than the natural gas fired combined cycle plants... it will be a real game changer.