How does deregulation affect me? What changed?
Electricity
The main change occurred when the large companies that previously had a monopoly on the electricity business were forced to split divisions into their specialties.
They divided into three parts — Generation (making the electricity), Transmission and Distribution "TDSP" (transporting the electricity from the generator to the home or business) and Retail (buying wholesale electricity and selling and billing individual customers).
Other companies were created at this time to also compete in the Retail portion of the electricity business as Retail Electric Providers (REPs). You now get to choose a REP who buys bulk electricity and sells to you.