Indeed, as the efficiencies mount, utility commissions are ensuring that at least half the savings flow back to customers.

FORBES: Utility Mergers Rising but Picking Partners is Tricky

Until the incentives for utilities change, they will block the door and the public utility commissions will keep the status quo.

FORBES: Smart Grid May be Shortest Route to Obama's Green Energy Goals

We pay, on average, far more than we should for electricity because utility commissions generally ignore Ramsey, or stand him on his head.

FORBES: Gouging The Drug Companies

We actually have three grids, not one, and because state utility commissions are stingy when it comes to pricing, maintenance has been haphazard.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The grid makes the former Yugoslavia look simple: local municipalities, the individual state utility commissions, the North America Electric Reliability Council, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and other agencies all have a say.

FORBES: Protecting the Electric Grid from Terrorism -- Nobody is in Charge

In that regard, utility deals need approval from the public service commissions of each jurisdiction in which the combined entity is to do business, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.

FORBES: Energy Companies Pursue Justice at a Fixed Cost