Two US national trade associations have asked federal regulators to implement a two year moratorium on the merger of large utility companies, Dow Jones reports.
The associations, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the American Public Power Association, claim that the public interests is at risk if large private-sector utilities continue to merge, eliminating competitive options in the run up to deregulation.
In a petition filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the associations asked for a moratorium on mergers of utilities with more than one million electric metered accounts, or mergers that would result in utilities of this size.
They argue that such mergers could result in unregulated monopolies replacing regulated ones after deregulation.