41.   The revenue from those surcharges is used to back bonds the utilities are selling to pay for the stranded costs.

42.   The size of stranded costs is important because it determines how much rates can be cut.

43.   The third way the utilities are paying off stranded costs is by selling off assets.

44.   The utilities will want ratepayers to pay off these so-called stranded costs.

45.   The utilities will pay off the stranded costs in a couple of different ways.

46.   They fear that utilities will claim billions in stranded costs from downsized billing and metering departments.

47.   Think of stranded costs as putting a dollar value on the failure of the old regulated market system.

48.   Those lost investments are known as stranded costs.

49.   Those contracts are estimated at a price above market value, meaning they, too, represent stranded costs.

50.   Though the utilities won at the polls, some economists are beginning to question whether reimbursing utilities for stranded costs makes sense.