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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Along with soaring oil and gasoline costs, consumers may be hit with yet another hike in their energy bill in the near future, the price of electricity, a report said Friday.
Due largely to the skyrocketing price of natural gas, utilities are faced with rising costs for producing power that could result in 15 percent higher residential electric bills and even higher ones for businesses in some areas, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The impact will vary depending on whether a state has a deregulated power industry, the newspaper said.
States with deregulated industries, mostly in the Northeast, the Midwest and the mid-Atlantic, are more likely to see the price increases. Utility shares in those areas are also likely to rise on the increased revenue, the newspaper said.
But other states with more regulated industries are trying to cap electric prices. The Journal said that move could force some utilities into bankruptcy, as happened in California in 2000.
Others argue that price caps fail to let the free market encourage conservation.
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