1.   And not allowing privately owned utilities from passing on sharply spiking wholesale prices to retail customers bankrupted them.

2.   - Various municipally owned utilities continue to report problems with their wholesale billing statements.

3.   Consumers in areas serviced by municipally owned utilities, the largest of which is Los Angeles, are not included in this first phase of deregulation.

4.   Intense negotiations with the privately owned utilities drag on week after week.

5.   Mark Zion, a representative of an organization representing municipally owned utilities, said Texas ratepayers could ultimately pay the price for the improper activity.

6.   Municipally owned utilities and electric co-operatives are exempt from the program.

7.   She said the rate cut may not apply to privately owned utilities, and could be offset by higher transmission fees.

8.   Some municipally owned utilities argue that their customers should not pay a regular share of those fees because they are not participating in deregulation.

9.   That brought criticism from two Democratic commission members, William Massey and Linda Breathitt, who said the commission has no jurisdiction over publicly owned utilities.

10.   The legal uncertainty leaves the publicly owned utilities with a Hobbesian choice if Congress passes legislation mandating competition.