11.   Four years ago, California agreed to deregulate its utilities with the hope that competition would lower rates for consumers.

12.   Kansas earlier this year shelved legislation that would have deregulated electric utilities.

13.   Massachusetts and California are among other states moving quickly to deregulate their utilities.

14.   Maybe some responsible, bipartisan legislation updating banking laws, reforming bankruptcy rules, deregulating electric utilities and fixing Social Security?

15.   Meanwhile, state regulators, who have much of the responsibility for deregulating local utilities, are looking at ways to reduce price swings.

16.   One state, California, has deregulated its utilities and eight others plan to do so.

17.   Property managers in New York admit they are in a quandary as the state prepares to deregulate electrical utilities.

18.   Repeal is a major step in a Congressional push to deregulate electric utilities.

19.   Such futuristic but costly devices would be threatened if utilities are deregulated, as many are demanding.

20.   The agency adopted sweeping changes in December that put much more emphasis on how such combinations would affect customers and attempts by states to deregulate their utilities.