1.   In California, rate freezes have prevented most utilities from passing on much of the higher price of power to consumers.

2.   In the United States, utilities are prevented from providing telephone service, but those in Britain are not.

3.   The problem was exacerbated because the utilities have been prevented, under the deregulation law, from passing on the price increase to their customers.

4.   The utilities are prevented by a rate freeze from passing along expenses to customers.

5.   When wholesale power costs started skyrocketing last summer, rate caps protected consumers but prevented the utilities from recovering costs.

6.   But rate controls prevented utilities from passing costs along to consumers when wholesale prices skyrocketed.

7.   But wholesale prices for electricity have soared and rate caps imposed under deregulation have prevented utilities from passing on those costs to customers.

8.   But wholesale prices for electricity have soared, and rate caps imposed under deregulation have prevented utilities from passing on those costs to customers.

9.   Rate caps prevented utilities from passing on skyrocketing fuel costs to consumers.

10.   The rate freeze prevented the utilities from charging customers more to cover those costs.