Pa. learned from Calif. deregulation missteps.

In hindsight, it's easy to look good in Pennsylvania when comparing it with rolling blackouts and the threat of bankrupt utilities brought about by deregulation in California. But in 1996 when Pennsylvania's utilities sat down with interested parties as widely divergent as one could imagine, it was not so clear.

At that time, deregulation was beginning to steamroll across the country. It was apparent that Pennsylvania's legislators and regulators were not going to be far behind. Traditional utilities, including Peco Energy, frankly were less enthusiastic about giving up the safe haven of regulated rates, but quickly saw that they could either be an active part of the …