As the nation moves toward a restructuring of the electrical power industry through the introduction of direct competition between power producers, one of the difficult emerging issues is the disparity of treatment between government-owned utilities (such as Seattle or Tacoma City Light and various Public Utility Districts) and investor-owned utilities (such as Puget Sound Energy and Washington Water Power).

The term "municipalization" has been coined to refer to the efforts of government utilities to expand through competition into areas traditionally served by investor-owned utilities. In a state where public power already dominates (delivering 69% of the electric energy consumed in Washington), municipalization is a public policy question of serious magnitude.

Read the full Policy Note here