WASHINGTON---A competitive electricity marketplace will result in benefits for all those who have a stake in the electric utility industry, Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.'s chairman said Friday (9/20).

"A competitive marketplace is good public policy because it does a better job of encouraging efficiencies than does even the best of economic regulation," said William F. Hecht, PP&L's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Our current system of economic regulation for electric utilities can actually reward inefficient companies."

Hecht, speaking at a conference on electric industry restructuring, said PP&L is "strongly encouraging a swift transition to a more competitive electricity business."

He said that, while the transmission and distribution of electricity remains a business that is best operated in a regulated atmosphere, there is no reason for the generation of electricity to be regulated.

"In a competitive electricity generation marketplace, business will shift away from the high-cost supplier to the lower-cost supplier," said Hecht. "We are convinced that such a system will result in prices for customers that will be lower than they would be under economic regulation."

Economic regulation, he said, should be the "exception and not the rule."

Hecht said Pennsylvania is making significant progress in designing a transition to providing customers with the opportunity to choose their electricity generator.

"In Pennsylvania, we have outstanding leadership being provided by the governor, the Public Utility Commission and the General Assembly," said Hecht.

He said that Pennsylvania is making significant progress in tackling the most important challenges in the customer choice transition: providing all customers with the opportunity to choose; ensuring continued reliability of electricity supplies; guaranteeing a continuation of important social programs; and designing an equitable treatment for utility costs that may not be recoverable in a more competitive atmosphere.

Hecht said the transition should move forward as soon as possible.

"There are those who would argue that we should move slowly. We must be honest with ourselves, however, and clearly distinguish between taking the time necessary to do the job properly and procrastinating because of the fear of change," Hecht said.

PP&L is a member of Partnership for Customer Choice, a group of seven utilities that is urging swift action on federal customer choice legislation.

A subsidiary of PP&L Resources, Inc., Allentown, Pa., PP&L provides electricity service to 1.2 million customers in 29 counties of eastern and central Pennsylvania. Other PP&L Resources subsidiaries include Power Markets Development Co., an international independent power company; and Spectrum Energy Services, which markets energy- related services and products.