My late grandfather had a saying for every occasion. When a fast-talking salesman would come knocking at his door in North St. Louis with promises too good to be true, he’d say, "There's more going on here than meets the eye, and none of it good." I've been thinking about that man a great deal lately, because the Missouri General Assembly is entertaining a pitch from some very fast talkers. They're calling it "Electric Choice." Back in the trades, we call it what it is: live wire with no ground fault protection.

I've been around the block on this one. I served in the Missouri General Assembly from 1989 through 2012, and I remember when ENRON marched into Jefferson City in the 1990s promising the same sweet deal — deregulate the electric utilities, break up the investor-owned utilities, introduce competition, and watch the rates fall like leaves in October. What followed for the states that bought that story wasn't lower bills. It was higher prices, a less dependable grid, and a whole lot of residential customers left holding the bag while corporate and industrial players walked away with the savings. History, as the Irish know well, has a cruel way of repeating itself for people who weren't paying attention the first time.

Here's what the numbers actually say, because in this trade, we work from the blueprint, not from the sales pitch.

Over the past five years, Missouri's electricity rates increased by 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour. During that same period, New York — a deregulated "choice" state — saw rates climb by 7.8 cents per kilowatt hour. Illinois, another "choice" state right across the river from us, saw rates jump 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour. The national average increase was 4 cents per kilowatt hour. Missouri is sitting well below that average. The deregulated states in California, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut are clustered at the very top of the rate-increase chart, with California posting a staggering 11.8 cents per kilowatt hour increase — more than five times what Missourians experienced.

Now, the proponents of this legislation will tell you that "choice" means lower rates. They'll say the free market will sort it all out. As an IBEW wireman who has pulled cable in basements and substations for decades before serving in the legislature, I can tell you this: the free market doesn't give a damn about the retired senior on Aragan Ave, who is on a fixed income and can't negotiate a long-term energy contract with an out-of-state conglomerate. And the data confirms it. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, residential electricity rates in states with restructured electricity markets have increased nearly 55% more than in vertically integrated states like Missouri. Most of the rate benefits that do exist in "choice" states — and they are limited — flow to commercial and industrial customers who have armies of lawyers and procurement specialists to navigate the markets. The families and retirees we represent? They're on their own.

And that's the dirty truth hiding under all the "choice" language. Large commercial and industrial companies love deregulation because they can hire the expertise to shop the markets and lock in favorable long-term contracts. Seniors on fixed incomes don't have that luxury. Working families juggling rent, groceries, and car payments don't have that luxury. The complexity of electric "choice" isn't a feature — it's the exploit. Sophisticated energy suppliers have an established track record of deploying what I'll charitably call aggressive market practices. The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office documented this in a 2021 report that found residents of that state "suffered large financial losses" by signing contracts with third-party electric suppliers, and that low-income customers "continue to suffer a disproportionate amount of the consumer harm." That's not an anomaly. That's the model.

There is also the matter of what happens to our union workforce. Under Missouri's current regulated system, our investor-owned utilities — including Ameren Missouri — have a long history of working with the building trades and employing IBEW members. If deregulation forces these utilities to sell off their generation assets to out-of-state, or potentially international, entities, there is no guarantee those workers keep their jobs, and no guarantee those plants stay open at all. The community economic investment that comes with locally regulated utilities doesn't follow the asset when it's sold to the highest bidder in some distant boardroom.

We need look no further than Texas for a real-world lesson in what happens when you strip away regulated reliability obligations in the name of market freedom. In a "choice" state, power generators have no enforceable obligation to make the reliability investments necessary to stay online during periods of peak demand. When Winter Storm Uri hit the Lone Star State, power generators failed catastrophically. Texans paid the price — some with their lives, and all of them on their electric bills. Missouri's regulated system requires our utilities to plan years ahead for future demand, build and maintain generation and grid infrastructure, and submit rates to the Missouri Public Service Commission for review and approval. That oversight is not a burden. It is the protection working-class Missourians have paid for and deserve to keep.

Here's what deregulation actually delivers: middlemen, marketing expenses, sales commissions, and short-term pricing practices. None of those things generate one kilowatt of electricity. They just add cost between the generation source and your meter. My grandfather would have spotted that con in thirty seconds.

Missouri's regulated system is working. Our rates prove it. The blueprint is solid — don't let anyone convince you to rewire the panel while the lights are on.

–Timothy P. Green Executive Vice President, St. Louis Electrical Connection IBEW/NECA Missouri State Representative 1989–2002 | Missouri State Senator 2005–2012

As seen in the St. Louis Labor Tribune