TAKE CARE WITH UTILITY DEREGULATION IN MISSOURI

One of the most daunting tasks facing Missouri is what to do about regulating utilities. For years, the state -- like most others -- operated with strict regulations administered by the Public Service Commission.

Now the trend is to undo many of those regulations and allow for more competition among utilities. One of the first targets is electric companies.

Other states have already wrestled with deregulation of electric utilities, and it has been tough. The Illinois Legislature, for example, failed to adopt a plan, even after a commission worked for several months to sort out the details.

Now there are two committees ready to go to work in Missouri. One is a PSC task force with 38 members from across the state. This group includes utility representatives, consumers and legislators. Among the legislators on the task force are two from Southeast Missouri, state Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau and state Rep. Larry Thomason of Kennett. The commission has a Feb. 15 deadline for completing its report.

The second group is a legislative committee appointed by the leaders of both houses of the Missouri Legislature. The committee's deadline is prior to the start of the next legislative session in January.

While the move is toward deregulation in most sectors of the economy, these two groups could decide that the best recommendation would be to slow down rather than rushing into a bad situation. How people pay their electric bills is of utmost importance. Each months, electric customer write a check to keep the lights on. This has become a basic necessity of our modern age.

Any changes in the regulations should benefit everyone, and that could prove difficult to accomplish.