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an average of 9.4 cents for electricity in 2001, and retail choice <br /> residential customers paid 11.6 cents. Did the retail choice <br /> customers benefit from leaving bundled service? The EIA data <br /> provide no answer. Retail choice customers in the state paid more, <br /> on average, than full-service customers, but the state average hides <br /> the significant difference in rates charged by individual utilities. The <br /> average bundled residential rate for Pennsylvania investor-owned <br /> utilities ranged from 5.6 to 12.7 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2001, but <br /> since it is not possible to calculate unbundled rates for any utility's <br /> service territory, no effective comparison can be made. <br /> Conclusion <br /> Inn sum, the best credible, available data on electricity prices do <br /> support a hypothesis that deregulation has brought lower <br /> prices. The relatively steady decline, on average, in the inflation- <br /> adjusted price of end-use electricity over the past 20 years can <br /> be largely explained by traditional factors such as declines in <br /> regulated rate base and fuel costs, legislative rate freezes, and <br /> other predictable determinants. <br /> Electricity Price Trends 9 <br />