The electric and natural gas industries today are entering into a new era of retail competition. Through such competition, service providers can compete to provide service directly to end use customers.

Many utilities have responded by choosing to pursue mergers and acquisitions. This consolidation of utilities gives rise to a variety of regulatory, consumer protection, and universal service concerns.

The rise of competition has also given rise to a consideration of low-income and universal service issues. These issues include: how to provide service to high cost and hard-to-serve customers, how to fund universal service assistance, how to structure consumer education programs, and how to measure the performance of universal service programs.