The ruling applied only to the distribution of wholesale power and thus did not break the monopoly hold that utilities have over residential customers.
The authority, set up by the State of Georgia, supplies wholesale electric power to 48 communities.
The districts in turn purchase wholesale power and arrange for its delivery to, and distribution within, the district.
Reduction in demand from the Pacific Northwest, which competes with California for wholesale power, also appears to be playing a role.
Such are the antecedents of the institution which is everywhere now so busily converting social power by wholesale into State power.
The well-meaning gesture had unintended consequences when the price of wholesale electric power shot up last year.
This is why I called on the president for an energy policy that includes short-term caps on the price of wholesale power.
The state now faces a $24 billion budget deficit, part of it because of the costs of buying high-priced wholesale power during the energy crisis.
It is one of the biggest sellers of wholesale power in the nation.
Pacificorp, which serves about 1.3 million customers, operates one of the nation's largest transmission systems, which has made it a major seller of wholesale power.
