rices could vary for reasons other than regulation, Stigler and Friedland controlled the analysis of other variables and found that no significant difference in price existed. Other critics felt that this study was done in a time when regulation was just getting started, and that regulators in the present day are more effective. Two other studies which found different results were those conducted by Meyer and Leland and another done by Greene and Smiley. In their study, which used data from 1969 and 1974, Meyer and Leland utilized econometric estimates of demand and costs to find hypothetical unregulated prices. Their conclusion was that the regulated prices were significantly lower, but that even lower prices were demanded. In a similar study conducted by Greene and Smiley, they found that unregulated prices were 20-50% higher than actual regulated prices. Although these studies seem to reach conclusions that support regulation, the alternative finding by Leland and Meyer that even lower prices were demanded seems to be an indication towards open competition among electric producers. Soon thereafter, the trend toward competition between electric producers began to emerge.The passage of the Energy Policy Act in 1992 created the first means of competition among electric companies by giving the government power to order companies to "wheel" power from one company, over their own lines, to another company. In 1990, there were over 3,000 electric systems in the U.S. alone, and most of them were publicly owned. However, the 267 privately owned utilities accounted for 71% of the sale of electricity. Also, most of these privately owned utilities have been vertically integrated, meaning they own the power plants, the substations, the transmission lines, and the distribution systems. The different utilities are then linked through a national grid, meaning it is possible for the sale of power, or wholesale wheeling, from one utility to the other....
