Whatever Happened to the Promise of Cheaper Electricity?

As readers of Adam Smith know, the market functions to provide consumers with goods and services at the lowest price (within limits set by law). Yet, several years ago, we submitted a piece claiming that restructuring the electricity industry had not produced noticeable consumer benefits, and the irate peer reviewer (we suspect a big shot restructuring maven ) retorted that you can’t prove a negative but added, “Who said that restructuring was supposed to benefit consumers?” On the first point,