This paper studies the impact of access to electricity via solar-powered home systems (SHSs) in rural communities in …

Prior to the 1990s, most electricity customers in the U.S. were served by regulated, vertically-integrated, monopoly … utilities that handled electricity generation, transmission, local distribution and billing/collections. Regulators set retail … electricity prices to allow the utility to recover its prudently incurred costs, a process known as cost-of-service regulation …

Electricity restructuring in the 1990s ended the era of vertically integrated monopolies in many states, allowing … nonutility generators to sell electricity to utilities and, in fewer states, allowing retail service providers to buy electricity … improvements. Although electricity restructuring has brought efficiency improvements, it has generally been viewed as a …