Overview:

Most electricity in the US, about 70%, is generated using fossil fuels, especially coal. There are several thousand power generating and supply organizations including investor owned utilities, government - especially municipal - utilities, rural electric cooperatives and independent power producers. Utilities and cooperatives sell the electricity to consumers, so do power marketers in some states, where consumers can now choose their supplier. The electric power industry is changing in a big way, called deregulation. Competition is being added at many levels. The future, including the role of fossil fuel, is hard to predict.

Use the underlined links above to go to pages of tutorials and links for the various aspects of electricity listed.