In America, deregulation of the wholesale power market means ever larger quantities of power are travelling greater distances, yet investment in the grid has halved since the 1970s.

ECONOMIST: ENERGY: Building the energy internet | The

Even after years of deregulation, the U.S. power market remains highly fragmented.

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Big mistake No. 2: While deregulation mandated that utilities buy their power on the open market and pay market prices, it barred them from passing on increases to their customers until at least March 31, 2002.

CNN: The California power quagmire