Anaheim Utility Gives Up Monopoly on Service

Ending a 106-year monopoly on electrical service to city residents, Anaheim Public Utilities began this month to allow residents and businesses to choose their energy provider.

The move won’t have immediate consequences for residents and businesses, however, because no alternative energy providers have yet registered in Anaheim. City officials said it would take about two years before all customers are given the option.

Eventually, a competitive market could mean substantial savings for businesses that use large amounts of energy, and it would allow environmentally conscious residents to buy so-called green power.

“I think choice is good for our customers,” said Brian Thomas, Anaheim Public Utilities’ assistant general manager. “It means we have to do a better job to make sure customers still purchase their energy from us.”

Anaheim’s changeover comes two years after the 1996 state-mandated deregulation of the three largest investor-owned electric power companies--Southern California Edison Co., San Diego Gas & Electric and PG&E; Corp.--took effect.

State legislation exempted municipal utilities, such as Anaheim’s, from deregulation. However, it set a deadline of March 31, 2000, for entering the open market if they wanted to continue charging customers for previous bad investments--an option also granted to investor-owned utilities when they deregulated.